Eric J. Charette, P.E.
Minneapolis, MN

Summary of Qualifications
Mr. Eric J. Charette currently serves as a Senior Vice President and Executive Consultant for GridBright.  Previously, Eric was part of the Hexagon leadership team in the role of Executive Technical Director.  He has been responsible for leading a team of business development professionals, serving as product manager, primary lead for conducting technical presales, managing customer relationships with sales, leading proposals and industry marketing. He has electrical engineering experience with a distribution power utility and is recognized as a foremost industry expert in emergency response and outage and advanced distribution management. He serves as track chair on the Grid Modernization Advisory Committee for the DistribuTECH conference. Eric holds a BS in Electrical Engineering with an emphasis in Power Systems and is a registered professional electrical engineer.

Education
Michigan Technological University, Houghton, Michigan
Bachelor of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering
Specialization in Power Systems, February 1999

Certifications and  Professional Activities
Registered as Professional Engineer
  • State of Alabama ● February 2011 ● License #: 31689
  • State of Wisconsin ● March 2004 ● License #: 36744-6
  • National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES) ● January 2011 ● Record Number 43415
    • NCEES Record facilitates process to apply for licensure in any state
DistribuTECH Advisory Committee
  • 2021-present Track Chair for Grid Modernization Technologies
  • 2019-2020 Track Chair for Enterprise Grid Management
  • 2016-2018 Member of Enterprise Grid Management
  • 2015 Member of Geospatial and Mobile Solutions
  • 2014 Member of Enterprise Information Analysis and Mobile Solutions 

Current Professional Experience
Senior Vice President & Executive Consultant
GridBright
Minneapolis, MN - January 2022 to Present
  • Consults with executive management at electric utilities across the U.S. to develop Grid Modernization strategy and roadmaps
  • Part of the team that helps electric utilities to procure, implement, integrate, and upgrade grid management applications.
  • Contributor to corporate growth strategies through business development activities and identifying new business opportunities
  • Responsible for leading the professional growth of a team of industry consultants

Previous Professional Experience
Executive Technical Director Business Development
Hexagon Safety & Infrastructure (Formerly known as Intergraph)
Huntsville, AL - April 2015 to December 2021
Business Development
  • Defined organizational strategic goals and provided direction for Utilities organization. 
  • Identified opportunities for new products, partnerships, acquisitions, and selling channels
  • Used knowledge of the utility market to identify and develop the company’s unique selling propositions, business opportunities and competitive differentiators.

Product Management
  • Served as InService OMS/ADMS product manager , including gathering requirements, development of product road maps, created business justification for investment

Sales Management
  • ​Performed direct sales, managed relationships, sought out new sales leads, groomed new opportunities at Exelon, LUMA, WPS and other utilities with $5M in bookings in 2020-2021

Technical Presales 
  • Lead and provided supervision for a team of technical industry consultants which helped to develop customer requirements and directly support a sales organization throughout the entire competitive sales cycle through the close of business.
  • Served as principal corporate expert for InService ADMS with all software demonstrations

Marketing and Thought Leadership
  • Responsible for subject matter expert content in the form of thought leadership for collateral, presentations, press releases, Energy Central blogs and social media 
  • Primary lead for coordination of trade shows, conferences and user group meetings.
  • Formerly responsible for planning, development and implementation of innovative marketing plans

Bids and Proposal
  • Formerly responsible for managing proposal writing team supporting a $40M annual business with a $150M pipeline
  • Served as subject matter expert for content in all proposal responses 
  • Served as point for presentation of all large opportunity approvals to executive leadership

Previous  Professional Experience
​Executive Systems Consultant
Intergraph Corporation
Huntsville, AL - December 2006 to April 2015
  • Provided global presales support for Outage, Distribution and Mobile Workforce software solution
  • Developed requirements, marketing, vision and direction for development as industry solutions manager 
  • Prepared software/presentation material for presales demonstrations and benchmark opportunities
  • Consulted with utilities to analyze, understand business needs to determine products to fit requirements

Previous  Professional Experience
Senior Outage Management Engineer
Wisconsin Public Service Corporation
Green Bay, WI - March 2005 to December 2006
All engineering work and practice in compliance with Wisconsin Department of Regulation & Licensing for Professional Engineering Registration, Chapter A-E 4.03 Engineering Experience subparts (1) – (7)
  • Provided technical, operational and strategic expertise, setting corporate Outage Management policy
  • Process owner/client lead and system administrator for outage management system (OMS)
  • Client Project Lead for multi-million dollar Intergraph InService OMS acquisition project
  • Member Steering Committee, Core Team and Executive Review Board for OMS Project
  • Determined all client functional and data requirements for software deployment
  • Training Lead Client, included oversight of Trainers, Training Project Manager, 150+ users and SME’s
  • Led change management effort for project including informational meetings and software demonstrations
  • Worked closely with vendor and IT Project Lead on all technical and client issues for implementation including interface testing, data validation and functional acceptance testing

Previous  Professional Experience
Regional Electrical Engineer
Wisconsin Public Service Corporation
Wausau, WI & Oshkosh, WI - March 1999 to March 2005
All engineering work and practice in compliance with Wisconsin Department of Regulation & Licensing for Professional Engineering Registration, Chapter A-E 4.03 Engineering Experience subparts (1) – (7)
  • Responsible for ensuring safety and reliability of electrical distribution system for 40,000 customers
  • Provided engineering support for the design, construction, operation and maintenance of distribution system
  • Optimization of electric service to new and existing electric customers, ranging from Residential, Commercial, Industrial and Agricultural customers
  • Responded to customer requests for power quality, voltage complaints and stray voltage investigations
  • Performed engineering calculations, provide code interpretations and plan/budget for system improvements
  • Developed detailed switching procedures based on load flow studies and equipment ratings
  • Provided all technical expertise at local level to designers, meter and line electricians
  • Led multiple multi-million dollar overhead, underground and duct construction projects
  • Coordinated construction and service work for a team of 20 line electricians
  • Coordinated resources, restoration efforts for storms at the local and corporate level as an expert in restoration activities​

Publications
Published authorIndustry Blogs

Professional Industry Speaking Engagements
DistribuTECH Transmission & Distribution Conference
  • “Damage Assessment Transforming the Chaos of Large Storms into a Planned Activity Through Automation” - DistribuTECH Transmission & Distribution Conference, Orlando, FL February 2016
  • Paper Session 2008 AMR / OMS Integration
Geospatial Information & Technology Association (GITA) National Conference
  • Paper Session 2009 Spatial Perspective on Smart Grid
EPRI Smart Distribution and Power Quality Conference and Exhibition                           
  • “The Power of Visualization: Web Based Utilities Portal for Spatial Grid Management” - EPRI Smart Distribution and Power Quality Conference and Exhibition, Chicago, IL June 2013
Chartwell Outage Communications Conference
  • “Advanced Restoration Times for Utility Customers” - Chartwell Outage Communications Conference, Phoenix, AZ November 2016
Marcus Evans Outage Response & Restoration Management Conference
  • “Enhancing Outage Management Systems and Processes with Meter Integration” - Marcus Evans Outage Response & Restoration Management Conference, Atlanta, GA October 2012
Regional GITA Conferences
  • “Data Driving the Smart Grid: A Case for Network Model Management” - Pacific Northwest GITA, Mukilteo, WA, April 2016
  • “New and Emerging Geospatial Technology Solutions Seminar” - Wisconsin Regional GITA Conference, La Crosse, WI April 2010
  • “Spatial Perspective on Smart Grid” – Wisconsin Regional GITA Conference, La Crosse, WI October 2009
Rocket City GIS Conference
  • “AMR/OMS Integration: Improving Operational Efficiencies One Ping at a Time” – Rocket City GIS Conference, Huntsville, AL October 2007
Geospatial World / Intergraph User Conference / HxGN Live
  • Multiple presentations, Hexagon User Conference (HxGN Live), 2014-2019 
  • Multiple presentations, Intergraph User Conference, 2006-2013

References
Professional references available upon request