Contact Energy is one of New Zealand’s largest listed generator / retail energy companies, and is a Support Partner of Global Women.
Contact’s GM of Operations, Jacqui Nelson, has featured in an international Women in Energy series on women from around the world who have shown “exemplary leadership”.
The series, run by the United States Energy Association (USEA) in conjunction with development agency USAID, is featured on the USEA website. Each month it features a different leader from around the world and previous profile have included Sue Kelly, president and CEO of the American Public Power Association, and Rebecca Miano, the Managing Director and CEO of Kenyan power generator KenGen.
Jacqui Nelson, who is the latest woman executive to be profiled, is described as a key leader within the Generation and Development business unit at Contact.
In the Q&A-style interview she talks about her career path, gender equality and what Contact is doing to attract, retain and promote more women into senior management positions to respond to dramatic industry transformation.
Jacqui says that over the course of her career she has witnessed changes in the sector that have seen more women take up leadership roles.
“We have an incredible legacy here in New Zealand when it comes to gender equality, which has made many of the changes I’ve witnessed in the sector possible.
“I feel very privileged to have been brought up in a country that has been championing gender equality and equal opportunity since 1893, when New Zealand women were the first in the world to win the right to vote.”
Jacqui says that in the sector there has also been a shift away from a technical focus on leadership roles to appointments made on strategic and people management capability, greater transparency of diversity metrics and improved female participation at an industry level.
“As an example there were 10 participants at the Women in Engineering and Technology Conference back in 2015, and this year there were close to 150. For our industry this is an awesome result.”
To read more of Jacqui’s insights and thoughts, please access the full article at https://www.usea.org/article/women-energy-jacqui-nelson