Managing Director, Strategy & Planning
Heather Donaldson is a Director in Management Consulting. Ms. Donaldson is a recognized thought leader serving as a member and advisor in forums focused on enabling technical capabilities, business model and policy changes. Her experience spans electricity industry domains including distributed energy resource integration, grid modernization, wholesale markets, and distribution and transmission planning.
Prior to joining Black & Veatch, Ms. Donaldson served as a Gubernatorial appointee to the California Public Utilities Commission, providing technical expertise concerning grid modernization as well as facilitating interconnection disputes between utilities and developers. Ms. Donaldson joined Southern California Edison (SCE) in August 2015 as a leader in electric system planning. In this role, she focused on bridging the communications gap between engineering need for grid modernization and policy development in regulatory arenas. Before joining SCE, Ms. Donaldson held multiple roles at the California Independent System Operator (ISO) in regulatory policy and smart grid technology and strategy. Prior to the ISO, she delivered software and consulting solutions aimed at facilitating wholesale energy market participation. She is an active member of the NIST Smart Grid Advisory Committee and a former member of the DOE Electricity Advisory Committee and DOE GridWise Architecture Council. Ms. Donaldson holds a BS in Electrical Engineering from South Dakota School of Mines & Technology and a MBA from the University of Utah.
