Situational Awareness at the Speed of Impact: Empowering Outage Response Through Real-Time Intelligence

When every second counts, clarity is a powerful asset. In this session, utility leaders from CenterPoint Energy, Con Edison, Entergy, and DataCapable experts reveal how real-time intelligence is revolutionizing outage response and emergency management. Discover how AI-driven tools, such as Threat Detector, Outage Map, and Community Portal, enable utilities to detect disruptions more quickly, coordinate across departments more effectively, and keep customers informed before they even need to call. From situational awareness to post-storm analysis, see how leading utilities are turning data into decisive action. Walk away with proven strategies to enhance operational resilience, reduce response times, and strengthen your utility’s performance when it matters most.

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Speakers: 

 

• Stephenie Howard, Vice President, Customer Strategy & Platform Development, CenterPoint Energy

Stephanie has over 25 years’ experience in the Utility Industry supporting and leading engineering, construction, analytics and customer service organizations. In her current role she serves as business owner for CenterPoint Energy’s customer and agent facing technologies along with a number of customer support functions such as QA, Workforce Management, and Rapid Resolutions. During her career, she has held various roles in business process design, testing, and program management for 6 major SAP implementation projects, Web and IVR Design implementations, and most recently CNP’s new Outage Tracker solution. Stephenie is a graduate of Louisiana Tech University with a Bachelor’s of Science in Civil Engineering.

 

• Karlon Butler, Manager, Product Owner Mobile App & View Outage at Entergy

Karlon Butler is the Manager and Product Owner of Entergy’s View Outage and Mobile application. In this role, he is responsible for leading and driving digital customer experiences and innovative solutions aimed at customer centricity and self-service. Before joining Entergy in 2020, Butler held numerous leadership roles in the oil and gas industry for North America Region, South America, Asia, and Europe. Prior to that, Butler served in Product Management roles for the Department of Defense supporting the United States Military in AEF (Afghanistan enduring Freedom) in the Middle East.

 

• Gabe Cano, Department Manager, Outage Management Systems at Con Edison

Gabriel Cano is the IT Department Manager at Con Edison, leading strategic planning and outage management system initiatives. With over 20 years in the utility sector, including nearly 17 years at Orange and Rockland Utilities, he brings deep expertise in Oracle applications, enterprise IT, and operational support systems. Gabe holds an MBA in Information Technology from Iona University and a BS in Business Management from Manhattan College. Known for bridging IT and operations, he’s a collaborative leader driving digital transformation across utility functions in the New York City area.

 

• Zac Canders, Co-Founder, DataCapable

Zac Canders brings 20 years of experience in the utility industry — a path that builds on his father’s legacy of supporting utilities. From the start, Zac has been driven by a passion for safety and improving how data is shared across systems. His expertise lies in leveraging emerging technologies to create value, with a focus on integrating systems and data for greater operational insight. Zac began his career in distribution and design engineering at National Grid before consulting with utilities around the world. In 2014, he co-founded DataCapable, a company specializing in emergency response and outage mapping software. Zac has contributed to numerous industry initiatives, including the White House–sponsored Outage Data Initiative and IEEE efforts, among others.

 

 

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