Utility Week - authoritative, impartial and essential reading for senior people within utilities, regulators and government
Issue link: https://fhpublishing.uberflip.com/i/457279
In partnership with Utility Week, the Institute of Water runs a talent recognition scheme called Rising Stars. As well as giving a profile to individuals who have shown potential and appetite to pro- gress in the water industry, the Rising Stars programme offers them opportunities for profes- sional development and the chance to attend key industry conferences. Winners in 2014 ended the year attending a dinner with Martin Baggs, chief executive of Thames Water. Katherine Owens, regulatory services manager, Wastewater Services, United Utilities, is a 2015 Rising Star. She talks to Utility Week: Why did you want to work in water? There were two main reasons I came into the industry. First, I have an environmental aca- demic background, and so when looking for a career I People & Opinion Utility Week community Rising stars Katherine Owens, United Utilities wanted to work in an indus- try that has a connection to the natural environment, but I also wanted to do something that made a difference to people. The water industry was a perfect fit, because we make a real dif- ferent to peoples' lives every day, and our work is closely tied to good management of the natural environment. The second reason was that I could see a wide variety of activi- ties in the water industry, so I felt it would offer me many and varied experiences and opportu- nities. I really like the fact that there are a really broad range of roles in the industry which give me the chance to develop a wide variety of skills. What's your career ambition? I don't have one single ambition because there are a number of things I want to achieve. On a personal level, I want to be able to look back on my career and feel I have had a positive impact on the industry, been success- ful and had recognition for my success. What do you think is the big- gest challenge facing the UK water industry today? I think the opening up of the industry to increasing amounts of competition is a massive change for the industry, and that will bring a variety of challenges. The industry needs to start thinking differently about what it is to be a water and wastewater service provider. Understand- ing this change and then being ready to embrace and adapt is a challenge, but it is what we must do in order to ensure our future success. What have been the best and worst moments of your career to date? That's a tough question, because there have been so many highlights and honestly very few low moments. I love leading a team, and it is the most rewarding experience to see my team being successful. Perhaps the best moments are when I get positive feedback and encouragement from the team that they are on board with the direction we're moving in, and are keen to keep push- ing for future success. If I had to identify a worst moment, I'd say capsizing a self-built ra on a freezing res- ervoir during a teambuilding day wasn't great. Do you have a career role model or mentor? There are a number of people who I'd consider to be mentors and role models, and I try to ensure that I keep good rela- tionships with them and that I create regular opportunities to learn from them. ReseaRch Find out more about the Institute of Water's Rising Stars programme at: www.instituteofwater.org. uk/rising-stars utILIty WeeK | 6th - 12th February 2015 | 7 clean energy trumps water in investment This is according to recent research conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit for Spanish infrastructure and environmental services group FCC. The paper, titled Urban Infrastructure Insights 2015, is based on responses from about 400 participants in the business and policy communities. Global ceOs share the same challenges the results of PwC's 2015 annual Global CeO Survey show that utilities leaders are not alone in their struggles to deal with changing regulation, customer expectations and competition. 66% of global CeOs say regulatory change will be disruptive in the next five years 61% of global CeOs say an increase in direct and indirect competitors will be disruptive in the next five years 61% of global CeOs say changing customer behaviours will be disruptive in the next five years "Perhaps where the 'NHS' and 'immigration' are on the lips of politicians today, 'climate change' will be in five years' time." Dr Andrew Jamieson, deputy president, Institute of Chemical engineers, speaking ahead of the launch of the institute's new energy Centre Looking only at global utilities leaders, responses showed that changing regulation is expected to be the biggest disruptive factor.