Forecasting Resilience: How Utilities Are Responding to Weather Risk
From hurricanes and wildfires to ice storms, heat waves, and flooding, severe weather is reshaping how utilities prepare for and respond to operational threats. In this panel discussion, utility leaders will share how they are using weather intelligence, predictive analytics, and operational data to strengthen readiness before an event, improve decision-making during active conditions, and refine models after restoration is complete.
Panelists will explore how weather-driven insights are influencing crew staging, asset risk identification, wildfire readiness, outage response, and post-event continuous improvement. Learn how utilities are moving from reactive response models to more proactive, data-informed resilience strategies in an era of growing weather volatility.
Moderated by: Jim Nowak, Senior Consultant, Chartwell, Inc.
Jim Nowak is a seasoned utility industry executive with over 37 years of experience leading emergency management, outage restoration, and operational innovation. He has held senior roles at American Electric Power, ARCOS, and Tempest, and today serves as Senior Consultant at Chartwell, Chief Client Advocate at Crew Surge, and Partner/COO at TRE Solutions. Jim has co-chaired national industry groups for EEI and co-founded the Great Lakes Mutual Assistance Group, helping shape mutual aid and incident response practices across North America. He brings deep expertise in SaaS technology adoption, customer success, and resilience planning to enhance the reliability and safety of critical utility services.
Panelists:
- Nicole Grove, Engineer-Compliance Coordinator, Alabama Power
With 21 years at Southern Company, Nicole Grove is an accomplished compliance coordinator and engineer with extensive experience in power delivery, project management, and compliance. With a strong background in data analytics, process automation, and cross-functional leadership, Nicole has successfully led major engineering initiatives, developed compliance and safety training, and earned recognition for both technical expertise and community leadership.
- Travis Kennedy, Director, Western Distribution Operations Center, Oncor Electric Delivery
Travis Kennedy is Director of Western Distribution Operations at Oncor Electric Delivery, where he leads the Western Distribution Operations Center and oversees the real-time operation of the electric distribution grid across a large service territory. He manages 24/7 control room operations, supporting outage restoration, storm response, load forecasting, and planned construction while leading initiatives in wildfire mitigation, load-shed response, operational safety, and advanced distribution management system (ADMS) enhancements. During his 15-year career at Oncor, Travis has held engineering and operational leadership roles focused on grid modernization, system protection, GIS integration, and operational technology. A licensed Professional Engineer in Texas, he holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Texas A&M University and is an Eagle Scout.
- Jess Alcorn, Director of Product Marketing, Technosylva
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