Innovation tends to be thought of as a significant concept, specialized field or something only people tapped into the bleeding edge of new technology can achieve. The reality is that we have all been innovating all our lives. To innovate is to do something in a new way. That’s it. Anytime we decide to add a coat hook by the door or rearrange our furniture for better flow, we are innovating. That time you added a squeeze of lemon to your grandma’s roasted chicken recipe (the audacity to think you could improve on grandma’s cooking… but it was good, right?) you were innovating. When we download the new Dominion Energy app on our phone to make bill paying faster and easier, we are innovating. So, I innovate every day. Some innovations are bigger than others, but I am always looking to try new things and new ideas.

In the pre-COVID era, I spent most of my free time supporting my kids’ activities like dance, soccer, and church youth activities. Now, most of my free time is focused on remote learning tech support for the older three girls. I’m innovating as I go along. In remaining moments, you can find me listening to an audio book while handling chores around the house. I love sci-fi, histories, and some classic fiction mixed in there.  

My favorite part of Innovation Expo Week was the Chairman’s Excellence Awards. That’s where the rubber meets the road. These are our people out there trying new ideas and successfully making an impact and improvement to the way we do business. The things they did this last year and the innovations they were able to implement were inspirational. 

The sections that most resonated with me were the personal stories presented as part of the conference. I loved the focus features on innovative employees like Bob Eller who embrace change and drive innovation to do things better. The deep dive into Dominion Innovation through the Inside Innovation Breakout Panel Session was also very enlightening. It’s always great to get a peek behind the curtain into the thought process and discussion of Dominion’s innovation leadership. 

Professionally, I have always pushed for innovation. As an intern, it was a simple as suggesting we print things to PDF and transmit them digitally. In some rolls it was using an online Dropbox for file transfer instead of mailing DVDs to each other. In other roles it has been completely moving an engineering program to cloud based software for consistency, access, and support fleet wide. Now my job is to help drive innovation throughout nuclear to ensure we are working as smart and efficiently as possible.