Power Profile: Gwen Mizell, vice president of sustainability and electrification, Ameren

In an industry filled with acronyms, one is cutting across different areas of companies faster than almost any other: ESG. It stands for environmental, social and governance practices. Those three areas are of increasing interest to a wide variety of Ameren's stakeholders including customers, investors, regulators, and current and future co-workers. Leading the company's efforts to infuse ESG practices in the company's strategy is Gwen Mizell, vice president of sustainability and electrification.

"The team I lead has the responsibility to develop a comprehensive sustainability strategy that encompasses ESG factors," said Mizell. "It's one of the ways we're living our vision – Leading the way to a sustainable energy future."

In September, Ameren announced a goal for net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. The plan involves adding a transformative amount of clean wind and solar generation over the next 20 years and advancing coal power plant retirements. Mizell's team led development of the new generation strategy, which leverages the company's ongoing investments to build a smarter, more resilient grid and transmission system.

Mizell's engineering background, education and experience have positioned her well for overseeing Ameren's focus on sustainability. She started her career with Westinghouse Electric. She worked as a marketing engineer for utilities and cooperatives in the Southeast and Central Southwest. Subsequent roles were with ABB marketing support services for the California ISO grid management systems, developing new peaking power plants for Calpine Corporation, selling consulting services for KEMA Consulting, and later, she spent ten years building her own energy consulting firm.

Five years ago, when Mizell joined Ameren, she served as director of diversity and inclusion. In 2018, she was promoted to lead Corporate Social Responsibility followed by a promotion in June 2019 to vice president of sustainability and electrification. This role draws on experiences spanning her entire career, integrating aspects of environmental engineering, business development, strategic planning, sales and marketing, entrepreneurship and diversity while leveraging her educational background in engineering and business.

"While much of the attention at Ameren centers on bringing more wind and solar energy to our customers, the communities we serve are challenged by COVID-19, its impact on the economy and an increased focus and call-to-action surrounding racial justice," said Mizell. "We're focused on making the transition to cleaner forms of energy as fast as we can without compromising on the reliability our customers expect or the affordability our communities need. While all of this is happening, we have to be accountable - and we are - to our many stakeholders, including customers and regulators."

"Make no mistake, the environment continues to be a large piece of the equation because it is important and touches everyone," said Mizell. "There's not a morning I wake up and see a news report that doesn't link to ESG in some way. At no other time in our history have our investors and our customers wanted to know more about our company beyond the balance sheet and how we're protecting the environment."

One way that Mizell has created an ongoing dialogue with key stakeholders is to hold an annual 'Community Voices' workshop. This is a terrific opportunity for two-way communication between Ameren and community leaders, non-profits and partners. While the 2020 workshop was held virtually, it afforded another opportunity for Ameren to share the latest information regarding services that the utility offers, such as energy assistance, access to jobs and energy efficiency programs. Conversely, participants provide insights on what their communities need, eliminating the need for Ameren to guess or rely on anecdotal information. Mizell and her team share this information with the entire leadership team, which helps the company better plan operations and design and deliver products and services for the future.

Mizell said today people are interested in Ameren's diversity demographics and how the company is ensuring good governance practices.

"Ameren is embracing our values including safety and security; integrity; and diversity, equity and inclusion by making increasing amounts of information available for others to know and understand our business and the ways we're making a positive impact throughout our service territory—things that go far beyond providing energy to power the quality of life," said Mizell.

Even though the COVID-19 pandemic has stifled her ability to enjoy ballroom dancing with her husband, Mizell said staying connected with her two children and gardening are good outlets these days. But, she also admits, "If I had not been an engineer, I would have been a singer."