Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | February 5, 2018 | Worcester Business Journal 25 The importance of diversity The Worcester Business Journal welcomes letters to the editor and commentary submissions. Please send submissions to Brad Kane, editor, at bkane@wbjournal.com. I n late December and early January, New England experienced bitter cold temperatures and multiple snowstorms. Across the region, temperatures fell below normal for at least 13 consecutive days, with 10 days averaging more than 10°F below normal. ISO New England, the independent power system operator, saw firsthand the impact this historic cold snap had on New England's electric grid. Increased demand for natural gas from heating customers drove up prices for natural-gas fired power plants. That meant that older oil- and coal-fired power plants, which were less expensive to run than their gas counterparts at the time, were operating most of the time. Fuel supplies at the oil-fired power plants rapidly depleted, and refilling tanks was complicated by storm conditions. ISO managed the power system reliably, but the condi- tions drove up wholesale electricity prices, left the region at risk if a major power plant or transmission line went down, and highlighted a growing concern regarding fuel security. Last month, the ISO released the "Operational Fuel- Security Analysis," a study began in 2016 to quantify the risks posed to the regional grid when natural gas power plants – which produce nearly half of the electricity in New England – have difficulty accessing fuel. The study assumed there will be no major build-out of the natural gas pipeline system over the next decade, and focused on 23 scenarios to analyze whether enough fuel would be available to meet demand in the 2024/2025 winter. The scenarios looked at variables like increased levels of renewable energy, including offshore wind, solar and ener- gy efficiency; increased retirements of older oil- and coal- fired power plants; varying levels of imported electricity from neighboring regions; and the availability of oil for dual-fuel power plants during gas shortages. The analysis found energy shortfalls due to inadequate fuel supply would occur with almost every fuel-mix sce- nario in winter 2024/2025, requiring frequent use of emer- gency actions, including rolling blackouts, to protect the grid. The analysis shows if fuel challenges in New England are not addressed, power system reliability will be at risk. Expanding natural gas pipeline capacity, investment in renewable resources and related transmission infrastruc- ture, increased power imports, changes to fuel infrastruc- ture and contracting for adequate fuel are all possible solu- tions. These solutions each have different costs and bene- fits, but our experience during the recent cold snap and the fuel-security analysis show inaction has costs: greater risks to reliability, higher energy prices and higher emissions. The challenges to power system reliability require action from policymakers, regulators and the energy industry. ISO will evaluate improvements to price these challenges and incentivize investment. And, if needed, ISO stands ready to assist regional decision-makers as they evaluate the costs and benefits of potential solutions. Gordon van Welie is ISO New England president and CEO. Power grid solutions needed to avoid blackouts V I E W P O I N T E D I T O R I A L BY GORDON VAN WELIE Special to the Worcester Business Journal Gordon van Welie WO R D F R O M T H E W E B Tweets of the week "Ben is so excited to win Best Local Brewery by @WBJournal Best of Business awards! Thanks everyone for the continued support! #wbjbobawards" - Wormtown Brewery (@Wormtownbrewery), Jan. 26, featuring a photo of co-founder Ben Roesch holding the WBJ's Best of Business award "Sturbridge has one of the 20 most developable sites in Central MA according to @WBJournal! 201 Main St. in Sturbridge is 20 acres of commercial/residential land centrally located on Route 131. #visitsturbridge" - Visit Sturbridge (@visitsturbridge), Jan. 23, on a story about Central Mass's 20 most developable sites W Facebook feedback "Wishing you guys all the best!" - Tracy Dill, Jan. 24, on the March 1 opening of deadhorse hill's second restaurant, simjang "'Preserve the building.' Is it architecturally significant? I'm thinking the land may be worth more without it." - Matt Mahoney Jan. 25, on the city marketing the former Saint Vincent Hospital nurses' quarters and part of the Senior Center on Providence Street to developers who must keep the building in place S ay you're the man – CEO of your own com- pany. You've got a senior team of five execu- tives who've been with you for many years, and a board of advisors made up of five long-time industry friends. One of your senior staff is a woman, and all of your directors are men. So, of those top 10 influential positions in your firm, 10 percent is female. However, when it comes to your employees, half are men and half are women. Your current team is performing well, yet you believe diversity makes your company better. What are you supposed to do? This issue of the Worcester Business Journal includes the first of a three-part series on gender diversity in leadership, called The Boardroom Gap. We start this edition with the data – showing how many women are in leadership positions, as senior executives and board members, at Central Massachusetts' top public, private and nonprofit organizations. There is no question more women are in leadership positions today than a generation ago, but improving on the past doesn't necessarily mean we've reached the right level of diversity. While women represent 49 percent the workforce, they don't come close to half the leadership in our companies. We don't know the right percentage, and it may differ by company/industry, but The Boston Club – an organization putting out annual reports on gender diversity in leadership among Massachusetts public companies – suggests hitting a 30-percent threshold would be a firm among the leaders in Massachusetts. While 39 of the 75 organi- zations WBJ examined hit this standard, none of them were Central Massachusetts public companies. It is clear the diversity of our workforce is not reflected in the profile of senior leadership. What has brought this topic of women in leader- ship to the fore? Has it been the stream of shock- ing stories about men behaving badly – from Harvey Weinstein to Larry Nassar? Would the organizations these men worked for have respond- ed differently, and in a more timely basis, were there more women in leadership positions? We'd like to think so. But that is not the issue we're addressing in this series. Nor are we addressing the issue of equal pay for equal work – the data we can access on pay is insufficient to derive any conclu- sive evidence on that front. Our report also is lim- ited to gender diversity and not overall diversity including race, sexual orientation or age. We've focused on gender diversity, and the evidence shows there is ample room for improvement. Certain industries attract more female workers than others – education, health care and social ser- vices, to name a few. More traditionally male domi- nated industries like construction, manufacturing and technology make it harder for those sectors to build a diverse workforce and leadership team. But if we treat today's measure as ground zero, nearly all employers can up their game. It's going to take a whole mix of steps to achieve more leadership diversity. Mentorships, coaching, encouragement, training and the opportunity to lead are needed to develop tomorrow's leaders. In the short term, any company hitting its numbers and making a good profit can defend the current state. But over the long run company leadership should reflect the diversity of its employees, and ultimately the diversity of its customers. The most successful companies will find that right mix. W

• Cover