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Author: Vanessa Edmonds

Cheryl Davis, Director of Managed Accounts for Georgia Power Company, is spearheading the U2030 Design Thinking Masterclass at the utility’s headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, on May 14-15, 2024.

Cheryl’s leadership has been exemplary from the outset. Demonstrating a profound understanding of the challenges confronting Georgia Power Company and other utilities in North America, Ms. Davis conceived the event’s theme: “Breaking Down Silos to Overcome the Energy & Water Capacity Dilemma.” The unanimous acceptance of the theme by U2030 members and GA Power executives underscores its relevance and importance.

Her unparalleled understanding of the challenges posed by silos and their impact on the widening gap between energy and water availability and capacity, coupled with her ability to bring together individuals committed to addressing shared challenges, is going to make for a great event.

I recently had the opportunity to sit down with Cheryl to discuss the upcoming event and what attendees can expect.

Strategy Unveiled

Vanessa: Can you tell us why the event’s theme, “Breaking Down Silos to Overcome the Energy & Water Capacity Dilemma,” is so important?

Cheryl: As an industry, we grapple with the daunting task of meeting escalating energy and water demands amid limited capacity and resources. Factors like population growth, urbanization, and industrial development exacerbate the pressure on utility providers to satisfy the needs of consumers, businesses, and industries. Overcoming this dilemma is further complicated by entrenched silos both within and outside of the utility sector. This is an area ripe for collaborative problem-solving.

Vanessa: When we talk about silos, there is a lot to unpack. What specific aspects of silos will the event explore?

Cheryl: Utility companies find themselves with more data than ever before. Yet, many struggle to harness its full potential because it is stored and managed in silos. These silos make it impossible for utilities to get a holistic, singular view of the truth for decision-making. However, the benefits of overcoming this challenge are abundant, particularly in tackling the energy and water capacity dilemma. Through unified data sharing, utilities can unlock many advantages, including improving planning and forecasting, optimizing resource allocation, delivering consistent customer engagement and education, responding to emergencies faster and with a higher degree of accuracy, and complying with regulatory mandates. Data silos challenge every utility in our industry, and we need to talk about how to overcome them.

Vanessa: Throughout the event planning process, you have worked closely with the U2030 leadership team, assuming  ownership of critical decisions. This includes selecting speakers from Georgia Power with diverse perspectives. Can you share why you selected Latanza Adjei and Chima Chijioke for an opening fireside chat and Patrick Pent and Jennifer Spearman to participate in the “Center of Excellence Panel: Embracing Industry 4.0 and Bridging Organizational Divides”?

Cheryl: Latanza Adjei is Georgia Power’s Senior Vice President of Customer Experience and Chief Customer Officer. She orchestrates seamless interactions across physical and digital channels that enhance the customer experience for the entire customer base. The organization effectively measures customer happiness and provides robust insights into the drivers of customer satisfaction to build customer loyalty, revenue growth, and cost reduction. Before her current role, Latanza was vice president of Corporate Services for Georgia Power, Southern Company Gas, and Southern Company. She provided leadership and oversight for various asset management functions in this role. These included Facilities Services, Fleet Services, Forestry and Right of Way Management, Metering Services, Cable Locating and Claims, and the company’s industrial equipment repair shop. Adjei also served as the vice president of sales and marketing for Georgia Power. In this role, she led implementing the company’s top line revenue growth strategy. She was responsible for product development, channel distribution, e-commerce, sales management, and energy efficiency. Her efforts were designed and executed to deliver top-quartile customer satisfaction, create revenue-growing relationships, and positively impact the organization’s culture. Her collaborative leadership on behalf of the customer has set the tone for leaders across Georgia Power and Southern Company. Latanza expects our leaders to make decisions informed by data. She excels at leveraging highly collaborative efforts by bringing together internal and external partners to create solutions for our customers. Latanza is highly strategic and visionary, and I know conference attendees will be invigorated by her message.

Chima Chijioke is Georgia Power’s Vice President of Customer Service. He oversees multiple functions, including call center operations, digital customer engagement, energy assistance, and billing. He also leads the team that manages the relationships with Georgia Power’s largest customers.

Prior to assuming this role, Chima was the vice president of Customer Operations for BGE. In his role, Chima was responsible for directing strategy, resources, and activities within Customer Operations, specifically for Customer Care, Claims, and Field and Meter Services. Previously, Chima was the director of Customer Care at BGE, where his team was responsible for all external interactions with BGE’s residential and small business customers.

Other previous roles include manager for Large Customer Services, where he oversaw all BGE’s Large Corporate accounts. Additionally, Chima served as the Corporate Functional Area manager for Exelon, where he was responsible for identifying and adopting best practices amongst Exelon’s utility fleet and creating synergies and strategic programs to advance the Customer Operations division. Before his role in Large Customer Services, Chima was the manager of the Customer Care team when BGE transitioned from its CIS mainframe system to its current Customer Care and Billing system (CC&B). Before joining Exelon, Chima was associate director for Customer Care at Verizon Wireless. He previously held other leadership positions in quality assurance and the hospitality industry. Chima serves on the U2030 Executive Board and has an incredible depth and breadth of knowledge to share.

Patrick Pent is Georgia Power’s Director of Customer Experience in Technology. He is uniquely qualified to speak to the intersection of technology and the customer experience. Attendees will find his information compelling and learn best practices to apply to their obstacles.

Jennifer Spearman is Georgia Power’s Manager of Application Development. Using data to identify and develop customer technology is a critical part of customer interaction, and Jennifer’s background allows her to share valuable and applicable knowledge with attendees.

Only 5 Tickets Left: U2030 Design Think-a-Thon

Ms. Davis will deliver a compelling welcome address at the beginning of the masterclass, thanking attendees for their support, framing the problem at hand, and emphasizing the urgency of finding solutions.

To ensure utility professionals across North America benefit from the solutions ideated during the masterclass, Cheryl, along with the U2030 team, is extending an invitation to the broader industry to participate. Only five tickets remain.

Don’t miss this opportunity to meet Cheryl and other leaders who are focused on solving the challenges of the energy and water capacity dilemma.

Click here to learn more and register May 2024 Masterclass – U2030 (utility2030.org)