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, and system planning. 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 gas and electric asset management, design engineering, customer construction, budgeting, large infrastructure project management, transmission and distribution construction and maintenance, 24-hour control center operations, labor relations, information technology, compliance, and emergency management.

In addition to her responsibilities at PSE, Gilbertson serves on the board of directors of the Western Energy Institute, the IEEE national response executive committee and is on the executive committee of the University of Washington Electrical Engineering Industry Consortium.

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, kayaking, running and gardening.

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 and utility operations including regulatory compliance, capital construction, gas operations and maintenance, storage plant operations, and gas control functions for NW Natural. He currently represents NW Natural on several national and regional industry trade and research associations.

Over the past 27+ years, Jon has held a wide range of positions with NW Natural that include leadership roles in operations, gas storage, 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 United Way Columbia-Willamette Board.

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.

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.