Executive Q&A: Kimberly Harris, president and CEO, Puget Sound Energy

Kimberly Harris is President and CEO of a regional gas and electric utility with $3.1 billion in annual revenues. Shes a dynamic leader who navigates a changing technological and regulatory landscape with intelligence and precision.

YOUTH: I grew up in Los Angeles. I was a Valley girl. My dad was an insurance man. When I said at 12 that I wanted to be a lawyer, my mom latched onto that and from that time it was: This is Kimberly and shes going to be a lawyer. I wasnt a very good lawyer. Im not someone who is going to fight till the bitter end. I like to bring together negotiations and put together settlements come up with solutions. My husband is a great lawyer, so I know the difference.

UTILITIES: My first job was at the largest law firm in Abilene, Texas. Twelve [people]. We were outside counsel for the electric company. A utility is a unique combination of engineering and physics, regulatory and accounting, and public policy. The moment I set foot inside that electric company, I knew [the utility industry] was for me. We are first responders. Our customers rely on us every single day to be warm, for lights and for safety. Energy is key. You cant make dreams come true without electricity or natural gas. We might take a backseat role, but to be a part of all of that is pretty exciting

PUGET SOUND ENERGY: I joined PSE in 1999 through the legal side but quickly decided I wanted to be on the business side. I learned about power trading on the trade floor and played an operational planning role. Then I got into a government regulatory role and dealt with energy efficiency and, finally, I operated the energy fleet, which included wind facilities, coal units, gas-fired units. That gave me the operations background.

LEADERSHIP STYLE: Im inclusive and love to interact with employees. I had a meeting today of 150 leaders and another meeting with 30. I ask what obstacles they face and try to remove them. Thats my style. Its engagement. When I first became CEO [in 2012] and met with a group of employees in Bellingham, one of them said: How do you expect to do this job? Youre no John Ellis [former Puget Sound Power and Light CEO]. I asked John for his secret. Get out of Bellevue, he said. That was the best advice. A great day for me is when Im wearing steel-toed boots at a plant or a substation or riding along with a crew.

METRICS: As CEO, I added an integrated strategic plan that sets the vision and goals. We provide metrics on how we are doing and every employee has access to that. Im very transparent. We have a balance scorecard. The first page is how were performing on safety. The second is about employee engagement; the third processes, tools and investment; the fourth is customer satisfaction and the fifth is financial. You can get a good sense of how the company is doing on those measures.

SAFETY: After I became CEO, I went to the funeral of a lineman. That impacts you. In an internal survey we did, people said they felt safe, but when we benchmarked ourselves against others, we were in the third quartile. Employees felt safe but they werent. That was my first sense that we had to change. Our issues were slips, trips and falls, ergonomics and sprains and strains. Statistics show that after so many minor incidents, a culture develops and you get a major incident. We brought in teams to address this. The experts told us it would take five years to reach the top quartile. It took us 18 months. The most important thing we did was to say, This matters. We start meetings with a safety moment on some issue of concern.

CUSTOMER: We view ourselves as an energy company, not as a utility. We want to be the choice of our customers. That means improving the customer experience. We do what the regulatory authorities require, [but] we are more focused on the information we learn from JD Power. Its not about gettting the award, but to hear what is important to customers. If the power goes out, you can go online or download an outage app that will tell you why the power is out, what area its affecting and when its coming back on.

INVESTMENTS: My focus has been on reliability, so that means transmission lines, substations, distribution lines, maintenance and smart systems that allow the grid to heal itself if there is a problem.

SECURITY: Electric utilities are one of the top targeted industries, so there is heavy oversight by federal regulators. We work hand in hand with [regulators] and the FBI. They tell us what to do and there is a constant audit of whether we are following regulations. But you dont want to just rely on those regulations if the bad actors know what the bar is… So while we comply with regs, we have to be even more diligent on this. The industry comes together to share best practices. You have to stay on top of the game. There are also physical security issues. That got press with the Metcalf incident [a sniper attack on a substation that took out 17 giant transformers that funnel power to Silicon Valley].

POLICY: Id like to see a strong state strategy that looks out 20 years. We [at PSE] have to make 20- to 40-year investments. Understanding where the state wants go would mean everything, not just for us but for entrepreneurs as well. Decide what percentage should be alternative energy, but then dont change it. If the state wants a more dynamic grid and I do believe its necessary if we are going to bring in more renewables and customer-based solar or fuel cells that takes a lot of investment and we need a strategy that includes where the money is going to come from. The regulatory agencies should have a seat at the table so that when we move forward with that strategy, they understand it.

GROWTH AREAS: Transportation produces 50 percent of the emissions in this state. To reduce those emissions means building out the infrastructure for electric, compressed natural gas and LNG vehicles. We are proud to be a partner with Saltchuk, to support them in their move to LNG for maritime. Thats huge. We have signed a lease with the Port of Tacoma and we will be building the plant that will fuel their Tote ships. Although we may look the same, with better customer experience and a presence in transportation, we wont look like your grandfathers utility.