Agenda At-a-Glance

There is nothing more important in most energy companies than return on investment (ROI).  Yet, ROI is rarely if ever associated with people.  In most organizations, however, total human capital costs average nearly 70% of operating expenses. What if you could improve your company’s ROI for your skilled workforce?

CEWD’s 2014 Annual Summit focuses on ways energy companies, partnering with their educational and workforce partners, can improve their “people” ROI, while competing effectively for qualified and diverse workers.  Beginning with the hard but important work of workforce planning, this year’s agenda will showcase examples of companies that are using CEWD member tools effectively to plan for growing attrition and shrinking applicant pools.  A workforce plan is only as successful as its execution, and CEWD will offer examples and best practices of companies that are implementing their workforce strategies successfully with focused talent pipeline strategies.  At the end of the day, ROI always comes down to the numbers, and people strategy is no different.  We’ll wrap up this year’s Annual Summit understanding how improved people strategies are speaking for themselves in the Board Room.

Wednesday, November 5

7:30 -11:15 am

National Forum

7:00 am – 5:00 pm

Registration

11:30 am – 2:15 pm

CEWD Workforce Planning Council Meeting

(Workforce Planning Council Members Only)

2:30 – 4:00 pm

Pre-Conference Workshop for Members

How to get the most out of your membership:  Using CEWD Tools

Valerie Taylor, CEWD Educational Consultant

2:30 – 5:00 pm

Executive Council Meeting

(Executive Council Members Only)

5:30 – 7:00 pm

Networking Reception

Thursday, November 6

7:00 – 5:00 pm       

Registration

7:00 – 8:00 am       

Full Breakfast

8:00 am – 11:45 am

General Session

Welcome to the CEWD Summit

Mary Miller, President, CEWD and Chief Administrative Officer, Edison Electric Institute

Energy Industry Update: An Executive Perspective

Tom Kuhn, President, Edison Electric Institute

Marv Fertel, President and Chief Executive Officer, Nuclear Energy Institute

Dave McCurdy, President and Chief Executive Office, American Gas Association

Keynote – What you need to know about the changes happening in education?

Mary Alice McCarthy, Senior Policy Analyst, New America Foundation

From competency based education to changes in higher education policy, significant changes are underway in the education system.  These changes can impact existing partnerships and create a new direction for the future of energy industry education. The New America Foundation is a nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy institute that invests in new thinkers and new ideas to address the next generation of challenges facing the United States.

CEWD Update

Ann Randazzo, Executive Director, Center for Energy Workforce Development

Promising Practices Panel: Workforce Planning

We love it when a plan comes together.  Energy companies will share examples of how a “game changer” influenced workforce planning efforts and how building robust workforce planning into their state energy consortia’s agenda resulted in broader member engagement, more innovative ideas and greater understanding of what their state needs to do to ensure an adequate supply of qualified and diverse talent.

11:45 – 1:00 pm

Networking Lunch

1:00 – 4:30 pm

General Session

Keynote on Focused Talent Pipeline Strategies: Student Veterans of America

CEWD’s Troops to Energy Jobs program put renewed focus on the value to companies of recruiting and hiring veterans.  Student Veterans of America is leading the way for these valued recruits to pursue additional education.  Learn how your company can engage with and leverage SVA chapters in your area to help veteran employees continue to strengthen their skillsets.

Promising Practices Panel: Focused Pipeline Strategies

“Meet them where they are” has become a mantra within CEWD, as more programs are developed to identify and attract potential applicants from diverse populations. The success of the programs is dependent on truly relating to and mitigating the unique challenges and needs of each population, in essence “meeting them where they are.” Doing so is a win-win for the potential energy worker and the industry overall. A panel of companies will share ways they have adapted their practices to appeal more to a broader population.

Education Partnerships – An Update on the National Energy Education Network

Over the last 6 months, with the help of our members, CEWD has redefined what it means to be an education member of CEWD.  We will share how our education members, as part of the National Energy Education Network, will be helping us to scale working solutions with value for students, educators and employers.

Jim Hunter, Director Utility Department, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers

5:30 – 7:00 pm

Reception

Friday, November 7

7:00 -  8:00 am

Breakfast

8:00 am – 12:30 pm

General Session

Review of Day One – Ann Randazzo, Executive Director, CEWD

Executive Panel Discussion: Strategic Workforce Planning

Change is the only certainty in the energy industry, but workforce development can’t stop just because there isn’t a clear picture of the future. Individual companies are making strategic decisions that can impact the number, skills and location of future employees, or that create an internal pipeline of skilled workers ready to step in as jobs become available. Our panel of executives will share how Strategic Workforce Planning is helping to drive workforce development decisions.

Tom Graham, Vice President of People Strategy and Human

Resources, PEPCO Holdings, Inc.

John Donleavy, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, National Grid

Beth Reese, President, Nicor Gas

Keynote - An Internal Perspective on Workforce Development

Are your internal policies, procedures, practices, and processes ready to support your workforce development efforts? As you begin implementing your plan, you want to make sure that key internal stakeholders understand importance and value of workforce development to the company, and how they can play a role. In order to set the stage for this work it is necessary to develop and, in some cases, modify, expand, and enhance your existing Human Resources infrastructure to support the targeted recruitment, hiring, and assimilation of the next generation.

Promising Practices Panel: From Boot Camps to Test Prep - Solutions that Work

From boot camps for students and summer camps for teachers to the new Get Into Energy Math and Test Preparation Workshop, companies are implementing specific solutions that increase the success of post-secondary education and entry into energy jobs. 

Return on Investment: The Bottom Line

Being able to measure the effectiveness of workforce planning, targeted recruitment strategies and heightened awareness of your company’s internal practices is as important as being able to measure your company’s revenue.   If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it or know whether it made a difference to your bottom line.  But companies are making headway, both in improving their ROI and improving the effectiveness of their workforce strategy.

What’s in store for 2015?

Wrap Up & Closing Session