Interview with Arevon, EVgo & Onyx at WRISE Leadership Forum

Catherine: Hi, I’m Catherine McLean, Founder and CEO of Dylan Green. I’m in Atlanta today at the WRISE Leadership Forum, and I have three guests joining me to talk about intergenerational learnings. My first guest is Patty Rollin, who is the Chief Commercial Officer at Onyx, and then I have Yvonne Robinson, who is at EVgo and the Regional Director of Site Development, and then I have Jimin Suh, who is the Development Associate at Ariba. Thanks for joining me.

Patty: Thank you for having us.

Catherine: Can you briefly introduce yourselves and tell us a bit about your current roles, Patty?

Patty: Sure. So as the Chief Commercial Officer of Onyx, and Onyx is a provider of C&I, commercial and industrial on-site solar and battery energy storage solutions. As the Chief Commercial Officer, I oversee origination as well as marketing, and I’ve been in the industry of renewables for 15 years and almost four decades in energy. Since elementary school.

Catherine: Yvonne?

Yvonne: Hi, yes. I’m Yvonne Robinson. I’m with EVgo, electrical vehicle charging. I am the Regional Director of Site Development there. We build out the infrastructure for the automakers. Our goal is to find areas where it is either disadvantaged communities, low income communities, or we’re looking for areas to kind of fill the corridors for travel because a lot of people feel that electrical vehicle charging has not kind of evolved in that area. So that is our focus, to really build the infrastructure out, and that’s what my team does. We focus on looking at the areas of utilization to enhance the infrastructure.

Jimin: Thank you for having me today. I’m currently a Project Development Associate at Arevon, and we are the proud sponsor of WRISE Conference today. I mainly work with greenfielding initiatives, focusing on PJM and New York ISO markets for energy demand growth driven by AI deployment and data center expansion.

Catherine: Great. Well, thanks again for joining me. Looking back at your early career, what’s one lesson you wish you’d learned sooner, and how has it shaped the way you approach your work today?

Patty: I wish, and this has been a topic of conversation at WRISE, I wish very much that I had learned to have confidence in myself. And it’s something I have learned, which is to own my experience and to look at myself objectively as others look at me. And so that, you know, if I wanted to go back and give myself advice, that’s what I would say. Okay.

Catherine: Have confidence. I like it.

Yvonne: For me, one thing I learned over the years is that failure is okay. It’s okay to fail.

Catherine: Not learned that yet, no. Is that coming?

Yvnonne: It’s that failure is okay, because one day those failures can become your success. Those failures become opportunities for you to really reinvent yourself, to take a look what was wrong and try to figure out, analyze it to find a better solution and better understanding. And it’s really critical that you accept those failures, because if you don’t fail, you don’t learn. We’ve got to take those failures as opportunities to learn. And so I really have taken that as, I wish I would have learned that probably 15 years ago, maybe even 20 years ago, that it’s okay to fail. That I don’t have to be perfect at everything because I’m learning every day.

Catherine: Yeah. Okay. Do you have any early career?

Jimin: I’m in early career right now, but I wish I had an opportunity to figure out that it’s okay to ask questions all the time and making sure that you ask for help when needed. I think it’s also driven by the fact that I’ve been living abroad by myself for a long time, and I always had to figure out things on my own, but just being vulnerable and asking for support when needed, it’s really, really important for your personal growth and just development in general.

Catherine: Great. Many people in our industry are navigating uncertainty in career transitions right now. What has helped you stay grounded and adaptable through major changes, whether chosen or unexpected?

Patty: Yeah, I think sort of the near-term view and the long-term view. And if I take the long-term view, and I’ve been in the industry, as I said, for many decades, it’s that understanding that our industry and most of our companies will weather the storm, and the storms will come and they will go and they’ll come back again, but that we have weathered them and that we’ll continue to weather them. That’s sort of the long view, big picture. And in the near-term is to do what we’re doing here, which is really network, network, network, build up your support team so that whether you’re in a secure position or you’re in transition, that you know what your opportunities and what your choices are.

Catherine: Great. Very good.

Yvonne: I would agree with that because I actually come from the wireless industry, which has had so many ups and downs over the last 30 years, 20 years, and you have to learn because there’s always uncertainty. Nothing ever has a certainty to it. It comes and goes as just almost like how a tree blows. It just comes and goes. So the best thing to do is to stay calm, to stay grounded, and to kind of refocus yourself, you know, breathe, you know, find your niche, what makes you feel okay. Find the support that’s there that you can have conversations with, you know, to feel like transitional times. One thing I always say is always have a transitional plan. Never think that anything will last forever because it never does. Whether it’s the transitional plan of how to weather the storm or how not to weather the storm, or if you choose not to weather it. I’m one of those people, I always go down with a ship. So if it’s going to be rough weathers, we’re going to all go down together and I’m just going to stay calm through it and hope I can swim out at the end.

Yvonne: Yeah. Great. Stay calm.

Jimin: Yeah, I can definitely agree with all these advice and examples. I also wanted to bring up the fact that recently there was a change in H1B visa process. And this is a real world example that many of my friends who really worked hard to stay in the industry and work here were really frustrated by that. But I think having and seeking out people who are going through similar changes helped a lot in terms of figuring out what the next step should be, and making sure that you do things that you can control. But at the end of the day, believing that having the optimism that you will find opportunities that suits you and having faith in that.

Catherine: Right. That’s a really good point. Patty and Yvonne, how has your approach to management evolved over time? And what experience most shaped the kind of managers you are today?

Yvonne: I think for me, I used to think that I always had to have the answer. I had to be direct with my team. I had to, like, if they came to me for a question, I couldn’t say, you know what, that’s a good question, let me get back to you. I always had to be ready to answer it. And I found that doing that, you’re not thinking it all the way through sometimes. And you’re not also hearing what’s being asked of you, because you’re always thinking that you have to have an instant answer. So over time, I’ve become more, I believe, humanistic, more people-oriented. I listen to what’s going on. And if I’m honest with them and hope they’re honest with me, and I let them know, I don’t have that answer, but you know what, maybe we can find the answer together. Or what is your suggestion? You know, let them lead. Let them be more involved, because then they feel trusted. You know, they feel like they have somebody who supports them. So I really had to learn that. I had to learn that, you know what, I don’t know everything. And I don’t know everything. What do you think? Let’s work through this together. You know, or let’s go ask somebody who might have that answer. So I really have had to be more humanistic. I’ve had to allow creativity of my team. I had to allow them to have some autonomy and feel like I’m supporting them and letting them lead. And when doing that, they actually come to me more with solutions versus problems. And I believe by doing that, I’m mentoring them and teaching them. So that has become my change of management is you could take my position one day, but you know what, you won’t be able to do it if I don’t let you.

Catherine: Right. Exactly.

Patty: That’s a great answer. I like to bring solutions. And so I think what’s changed for me is that, first of all, I’ve learned to trust that we’ve built a good team. You know, we were intentional. We hired good people. There’s trust in the fact that it’s a good team. And something I learned from a boss whose name is Ray Hanger. Give him a little shout out.

Catherine: I know him, yes.

Patty: Is that on the first day of his job with me, he said, my only job is to help you do your job better. What can I do? And so that’s what I try to do, if not on a daily basis, you know, at least on a weekly basis with everyone who is on my team, is to say to them, what can I do to help you do your job better? What can I facilitate? That’s how I see myself as a facilitator.

Catherine: Yeah, I really, I love that. It’s such great answers. Jimin, what do you most value in a mentor or senior leader? And how can those in management better support the next generation of talent?

Jimin: I would definitely echo these points and say that it has to be a two-way conversation. And I think the senior leaders who are open to honest feedback in terms of their leadership style or just how they operate the team definitely helps to lead a team more successful in a successful direction. And also really understanding who I am as a person and making sure that they try to stay curious about my interests and how I want to navigate a career journey.

Catherine: Mm-hmm. Building and retaining diverse teams can be challenging in our industry.
What practices have you seen that make the biggest difference in helping people feel supported and want to stay and grow and learn?

Patty: Well, so first of all, it’s having a pool of diverse candidates that you make sure are available to you. And it’s working with people like you, Katherine, who I can trust will bring us a diverse group of candidates. And then with respect to hiring, it’s making sure we have a pretty extensive interview process. You know how people do four, five, or maybe even six interviews. And we already have a diverse team with diverse points of view. And so to have those folks interviewing. And so it means that it’s not just one person who has one view. But that we’re hiring people, bringing diverse points of view to the hiring as well.

Catherine: Right, right.

Yvonne: I would agree with a lot with what Patty said. You have to have a diverse pool. You do.
You cannot just say, these are the first three applicants that came in, and they have all the tools that we need, and let’s hire them. No, you have to have that conversation. You have to make sure that they actually fit within the culture. And we do have, really, it’s like three or four interviews before you even get to the final. Because you’re looking for somebody who has diversity. And you’re looking for somebody who has curiosity, who’s willing to grow, who you can feel you can lead as well, or they can bring insight to your company as well. Not everybody who has certain aspects or skills will fit into that group. It doesn’t matter. You want to ensure that you’re getting somebody who provides that diversity as well. They want to look at the big picture. They want to look outside the box. And one thing I always say is, I don’t want the person who thinks they know everything. I want the person who realizes I’m not as good as I get, and there’s more for me to learn.

Catherine: Right, right. Any additional comments?

Jimin: I would say having a culture of open feedback and voice creates a successful organization. And at Arevon, we decreased our turnover rate from 25% to around 10% this year by taking feedback from employees and creating tuition reimbursement program and really reinvesting into our growth. And also making sure that they conduct employee surveys every once in a while and creating even employee affinity groups to make sure that everyone feels included, especially the ones who are working remotely.

Catherine: Right, right, right. Yeah, tuition reimbursement is such a retainer for employees. It really, really is. We often hear about imposter syndrome. Have you ever experienced that? And what helped you stay grounded in your confidence and sense of belonging?

Patty: Well, if you were in one of the sessions this morning with Kelly Darnall, she said we’re not allowed to say imposter syndrome.

Catherine: Right, that’s right. What are we calling it these days? I don’t remember what she said.

Patty: We’re calling it fear. So even after all this time in my job, in my career, I still feel this. And so it goes back to something I said earlier, which is I try to take a step back and take an objective view of myself and how far I’ve come and what I’ve done and what I know I can do. So when those doubts come, I just, you know, I take a step back, take that objective viewpoint of, you know, what is my resume? What are my skills? What do I know I’ve brought? What do I bring?

Catherine: Right, right. Anyone else?

Jimin: I can go next. I am definitely feeling imposter syndrome now as well. I’m a relatively very young professional and I am actually from Korea. So English is my second language. So I struggle to speak English fluently, even though I lived here for 15 years. So whenever I go to outskirts of the U.S. to pitch the solar project development idea to farmers, I always wonder, would they take seriously of me? And then I keep talking to myself about all the anxiety that I have about my presence there. But like you mentioned, I think about what I bring to the table, especially my unique strengths and perspectives. And also the fact that I’m there as someone who’s promoting clean energy to someone who I wouldn’t really interact with. That’s outside of my social circle. That gives me pride in terms of what I do as a job. So I try to embrace that.

Catherine: I love this.

Yvonne: All right, for me, you know what? I’m going to use the word fear because I agree. The imposter syndrome to me is really just a quick fear. It’s everything like changing your career, changing your job. You immediately can find fear. I come from an industry before getting into clean energy where it was now dominated. I was in the wireless industry and I was the construction operations manager. And as a woman managing all men, it was very challenging because immediately their wall went up. It’s like, oh my God, what does she know about construction? So for me, it was having to find that song, that confidence. Like Kelly said it this morning, you have to find that walk. When you go into a room, you want them to make sure they know you’re confident and that you know what you’re doing. But I always felt like I had to prove myself. So I finally figured out how to overcome that by saying, I know what I’m doing. Just because they don’t know that I know what I’m doing doesn’t mean I don’t know what I’m doing. So I had to figure out how to keep telling and reaffirming myself that, you know what, if you don’t want to work today, that’s your choice. You can go home. I’ll find somebody else who does. So I had to find that confidence to let them know that I was not going to be feared by them and that I had to find a song. And really recently, it’s been a song. It’s, you know, that girl is on fire. Because it’s like, hey, this is me and I know what I’m doing. And I don’t care if you don’t think I do, but I’m not going to let you make me feel this imposter syndrome. Like, I don’t know what I’m doing. I’m like, I’ve been doing this a long time, probably longer than some of you. And I’ve been successful at it. So just listen. Give me an opportunity.

Catherine: I don’t know. I think my answer to this one is I just fake it. I just tell the voice in my head, leave me alone. And I may not believe it, but I just fake it. Fake it until I make it.

Patty: I had this aha moment about 10 years ago when I was at AES Solar, Silver Ridge. And I was the head of the development group. And I was hiring for somebody to report to me. And I was looking through a stack of resumes. And I see somebody, a guy who I’m looking at his experience. And as I’m looking at it, I’m thinking, oh, well, he sort of could fill my role. Not just, and can I hire somebody like that? And then I saw the name. And I’m like, I know that guy. And with two lessons, which one is that I realized that I know him. And I know what my experience was when compared to his. But also that he proactively presented himself. And I go back to that often.

Yvonne: Yeah. I have to say, because it was somebody who really, he was adamant. He was not going to listen to me. And today, he’s now my best friend.

Catherine: Is this your husband?

Yvonne: My husband’s really my best friend. But he’s actually a really good friend. He’s really a good friend now. Like I can call him and ask for advice. He can call me. Well, he respects you.
And he respects me. But I had to show that I wasn’t afraid of him. And I wasn’t afraid of leading this team. And it’s one thing that’s tough for us to do. I’m with you. Before, I used to say, I’m going to fake it till I make it. But then I’m like, why do I have to fake it when I know what I’m doing?

Catherine: That’s right. No, you’re right. What gives you the most hope about the next generation shaping the future of clean energy? We’re leaving quite the task for the young generation.

Patty: I’m going to lead on this because I feel like it’s my team at Onyx. I work with a relatively young team, the whole company, but also my team, the origination team. And I see how every day they dedicate themselves to making the world a better place, not just at Onyx, but in their lives. And that brings energy to me. And it brings hope.

Yvonne: I think for me, my team is really young too. I think a lot of people who do infrastructure or EV charging, a lot of them that are doing the groundwork and the footwork are very young. And to see that is encouraging because they have this different vision. They have no fear almost. It’s like their curiosity of how to improve something or how to overcome something to make things work. I think that’s going to be our future is they’re going to go out there. And it’s not always about the technology. It’s about how do we make it better? And it’s constantly evolving. And their minds are just constantly thinking of the next thing. Whereas I think sometimes we stop. But I think their future is, I want to see a flying car one day. So how do I get to that point? I’ve got to keep going. We’ve got to get past these electrical vehicles. Charging, they have to work. This has to work so I can get to that next level of a flying car or whatever becomes next.

Catherine: I just want us to get to self-driving cars by the time my child turns 16. And I’m running out of time. He is almost seven. So he’s like, I can’t wait until I’m 16. I’m like, um, what’s going on with these driverless cars any day now?

Jimin: Yeah, there is Waymo that’s like going around Atlanta right now.

Catherine: I love Waymo. We’re going to get to him a Waymo. What about you Jimin?

Jimin: I try to contribute back to the previous organizations that I was involved in. Through joining alumni advisory board or joining a committee that help nurture or mentor students who are interested in the sustainability field. And whenever I have conversations with them, I always learn something new that’s happening in the industry because there are so many different changes that are rapidly happening. And whenever I talk to them, I also get a lot of energy about why I’m doing this and what keeps me motivated. So I think having that direct contact and communication with the future leaders of the industry is definitely something that makes me stay hopeful and passionate.

Catherine: Great. Well, thank you all for sitting down and talking to me. I appreciate it.

Patty: Thank you

Yvonne: Thanks for having us.