Safety Summit (Aug 29-31)

As the senior vice president of Operations for Puget Sound Energy, Booga Gilbertson is responsible for electric and gas operations, including emergency response, maintenance and construction, electric and gas system operations and dispatch, system planning, and engineering. She also leads project management and engineering across operations.

Since joining PSE in 1985, Gilbertson has held a broad range of engineering, operations and management positions in planning, asset management, gas and electric design engineering, performance measurement, budgeting, project management, construction and maintenance, 24-hour control center operations, labor relations, technology and emergency response management. She has been vice president of Operations since 2011.

In addition to her responsibilities at PSE, Gilbertson serves as chair-elect of the board of directors of the Western Energy Institute and chair of the EEI National Response Executive Committee. She also serves on the University of Washington Electrical Engineering Advisory Board as well as the Washington State University Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Executive Council.

Gilbertson holds a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from the University of Washington and a Master of Business Administration degree from City University.

She enjoys skiing, hiking, running, kayaking and gardening.

DaVonna Johnson is the Chief Administrative Services Officer at Seattle City Light and has been there since 2004. She is responsible for the development of Utility-wide Workforce strategy, policy and programs designed to attract, develop, train and support a highly skilled diverse workforce to meet the Utility’s needs now and in the future. She provides leadership transforming the Utility into a safe, high performance organization through excellence in talent management, organizational development, apprenticeship, technical training, employee services, employee relations, labor relations, safety and health and wellness, security, facilities and emergency management. DaVonna is a native of Seattle, has three teenagers with her husband Del, and true to her Seattle roots she enjoys reading, coffee and a good weekend rain storm.

John joined the PUD in February 2017, bringing nearly 30 years of experience in the electric utility industry. He is responsible for construction, engineering, operations and maintenance of the utility’s transmission, substation and distribution assets. He also oversees fleet, real estate and environmental functions.

Before joining the PUD, John worked for the Public Service Company of New Mexico, serving as both Director of Safety and Transmission and Distribution Engineering and Operations. While there, he successfully led a transformation of the utility’s safety program. John began his career at the Central Illinois Light Company where he was an IBEW journeyman for 10 years. He also worked as Vice President of Power Delivery for the Indianapolis Power and Light Company. John attended University of Illinois and holds a bachelor of arts degree in accounting.

Jon Huddleston currently oversees all aspects of engineering design, planning, regulatory compliance, compliance inspection services, customer field services, emergency response activities, as well as construction, operations and maintenance of the NW Natural pipeline system. He currently represents NW Natural on several national and regional industry trade and research associations.

Over the past 29+ years, Jon has held a wide range of positions with NW Natural that include leadership roles in operations, gas storage,gas control, engineering, technical training, business systems support, business analytics, technology implementation and regulatory compliance oversight. He has been directly involved with union labor negotiations, federal and state regulatory policy and business process re-design.

Jon has volunteered in the community for many years as a youth soccer, baseball, softball and basketball coach. Jon has served on several non-profit boards over the years. He currently serves on the board of Friends of the Children and the Oregon State University Leadership Academy.

Jon is married and has three adult children. He has a BS in Civil Engineering from Oregon State University.

Billy Roeder has been the Idaho Power, Skills Training leader for the last 4 years.
He is responsible for developing and implementing strategic direction for the Skills Training department, including developing processes and tools for instructional design, training development and implementation. He serves as Chair of the Apprentice Advisory Committees as required, as well as collaborates with the Apprenticeship Programs Committees.

Prior to this assignment, he served in the United States Air Force for 21 years in various training management roles. In his final military assignment, he was the Director of Training. while in this role, Billy supervised the professional development of 38 staff members and was responsible for over 3,360 trainees. During his 21-year tenure, Billy was recognized for his outstanding training development and implementation in which he earned various training management awards for program excellence.

For the past 14 years Billy has also been a Sr. Adjunct instructor at Park University teaching various management and government courses. He was awarded the 2011 Provost Excellence in Teaching Award for superior classroom instructional methods.

Billy holds a Master of Public Administration, Master of Management and various graduate level certificates. He has been published in various civilian and military publications regarding training and education.

Mark Taylor is the Manager of Workforce Development with ENMAX Power Corporation and has 30 years of experience in the utility industry. Mark leads our field safety, work methods, trades training, apprentice, and safety codes teams. In 2015. Mark received the Certified Utility Safety Professional designation through the Utility Safety and Operations Leadership Network and is the Recording Secretary of the Inter-Utility Overhead Training Association and the Chairman of the WEI Electric Safety and Work Methods.

Ruben White is an Occupational Health & Safety Administrator at Southwest Gas Corporation. He has worked in Environmental Health and Safety for 11 years, six of those working for OSHA. Ruben is a Chicago Cubs fan and loves baseball. He also enjoys deep-sea fishing.

Mike MacDonell, despite years of trying, still hasn’t figured out how to keep everyone safe and needs your help. He believes strongly that when it comes to the noble pursuit of Safety, one must stay thirsty and steal shamelessly. Mike is the manager of Health & Safety at ATCO Pipelines & Liquids and calls the beautiful province of Alberta, Canada home where he resides with his wife Su, ten year old son D.J. and Scout (the dog).

Mike is a graduate of the University of Alberta where he attained both an Occupational Health and Safety Certificate (with Distinction) and a Bachelor of Arts in Industrial Design. He holds a Canadian Registered Safety Professional designation.

Jeff Bailey is a Safety Health Work Practices Consultant at Puget Sound Energy. He has worked in energy industry for 29 years all at PSE. Jeff is an avid hiker and loves to spend much of his free time in the Cascade mountain range enjoying the views of Mt. Rainier, lakes and waterfalls. Oddly enough, Jeff has spent his entire life living in the Pacific NW and has yet to have dinner at the Space Needle.