Agenda

The financial and regulatory landscape for public utilities continues to evolve rapidly—bringing new accounting standards, heightened scrutiny of internal controls, and increasing pressure to fund critical infrastructure while maintaining rate stability. This session delivers a practical, real world look at how utility leaders and finance professionals can stay ahead of these challenges.

We’ll begin with an update on upcoming governmental accounting standards, highlighting what’s on the horizon and walking through practical examples that illustrate how these changes may impact financial reporting and decision making. From there, we’ll shift focus to internal controls and fraud prevention, exploring common attributes of fraud, real world examples seen in practice, and why strong internal controls and proper segregation of duties remain essential—particularly in today’s resource constrained environments. We’ll also discuss single audit and regulatory considerations and how control weaknesses can create broader compliance risks.

The session will conclude with a forward looking discussion on funding capital projects, including the role of financial forecasts, key budget to actual controls, and how capital decisions ultimately affect rates and how you interpret your financial statements. Attendees will leave with actionable insights that connect accounting standards, governance, and long term financial planning—equipping them to make informed decisions that support both operational needs and financial sustainability.

This seminar builds core literacy in risk concepts, frameworks, and assessment methods used across all U.S. critical infrastructure sectors. Designed for professionals who need a grounded, shared understanding of strategic risk, the session introduces the fundamental components of risk—threats, vulnerabilities, consequences, and likelihood—and explores how structured scenarios and frameworks support clearer decision-making.

Participants will gain familiarity with both qualitative and quantitative approaches to risk analysis, including common methodologies such as risk registers, as well as introductory perspectives on cybersecurity and other emerging risk challenges. By the end of the session, attendees will be able to interpret risk analytic products with confidence and begin developing or managing risk assessment efforts within their own organizations.

Topics include:

• Core risk concepts and scenario structures
• Frameworks for structured risk thinking
• Qualitative and quantitative assessment approaches
• Risk registers and other common methodologies
• Introductory approaches to cybersecurity and cross-sector risk challenges

Imagine planning a trip without choosing a destination, mapping an itinerary, or deciding who you’ll travel with. Many of us approach our careers this way — hoping things will work out without ever taking the wheel. This is your invitation to stop wandering and start steering — not just for yourself, but for the teams you lead and influence. Learn how to begin to take ownership of your career and individual leadership development, while also learning how to cultivate accountability, foster a growth mindset, and empower others on your team. First, reflect on your values, uncover your strengths, and learn tools to help you create a personalized roadmap for growth. Then, explore how to effectively encourage your team to adopt a growth mindset, take accountability, and create a team development action plan. Whether you're just starting out or looking to reignite your path, stop waiting for someone else to lead and start practicing how to guide your own journey toward a fulfilling career and culture of results.

Part 1: Lead Yourself

• The Five KNOWs to build clarity, confidence, and direction.
• Identifying stealth development opportunities.
• Your leadership brand and impact.
• Building your “nextwork” to accelerate career momentum.

Part 2: Lead Others

• How to foster a culture of accountability and results within your team.
• Developing and empowering others through coaching, feedback, and recognition.
• Instilling a growth mindset across your team.
• How to create a team development action plan aligned with your leadership values and organizational goals.

This course from the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) brings its nationally recognized Cyber Range to CTS for an immersive, hands on exercise focused on real world cyber defense. Led by Joe Mallen of UTSA, the session places participants in a simulated, corporate grade digital environment where cyber incidents unfold in real time.

Through realistic, business oriented scenarios, participants will work in teams to detect, identify, and mitigate cyber attacks using industry standard security tools. The Cyber Range is designed to mirror the complexity, pressure, and decision making challenges utilities face during actual incidents—strengthening both technical skills and mental readiness.

This in person session offers attendees a unique opportunity to practice cyber response in a safe yet highly realistic setting, gaining practical insight into how attacks develop, how defenses are tested, and how teams can respond effectively under pressure.

As data centers, AI operations, advanced manufacturing, and other super sized electric loads surge across the country, utilities are facing rapid, concentrated demand growth unlike anything in decades. These customers can add 100–500MW per site and bring both major economic development opportunities and complex challenges around service needs, infrastructure investment, procurement, and rate impacts on existing customers.

This pre conference seminar explores what high load factor customers need from the grid and how utilities can translate those needs into thoughtful, defensible rate structures, line extension policies, and contracts. Discuss firm vs. non firm service, cost recovery mechanisms, market structure considerations, and strategies for balancing opportunity and risk. Review real world scenarios, examine grid and timing constraints, and learn how to design competitive yet sustainable offerings that protect ratepayers while supporting modern load growth.

Get a peek into how public power utilities are already using artificial intelligence and how they expect it to augment operations in the near future. Hear where AI has been most helpful in their organizations, what risks remain in its use, and learn about open source AI tools utilities could leverage for cybersecurity.

Cloud platforms outpace traditional Active Directory in both scale and complexity. Walk through how Easton Utilities developed a solution to address the resulting visibility and control challenges and improve employee provisioning, which evolved into a governance solution that improves account management, reduces costs, and provides cross-system visibility without deploying a large enterprise Identity and Access Management platform. Review what Easton learned along the way about system architecture, data integration, and governance workflow — and what that could mean for your utility’s identity oversight.

This session will examine important lessons learned from a cyber incident response and speak to the value of cyber mutual assistance for public power utilities. Attendees will get a peek behind the curtain at the response and recovery associated with a ransomware event with actionable insights and resources that can help improve incident response planning. The session will also highlight the ESCC’s Cyber Mutual Assistance Program and provide additional information on how attendees can join this network of utility cyber professionals.

A bevy of state and federal government partners play a role in information sharing to help electric utilities prepare for and respond to cyber threats. Discuss when and how utilities should engage these partners during a cyber event, as well as practical ways to establish trusted relationships and communication channels before an incident occurs, when time and clarity matter most.

Hear perspectives from both a small public power utility and an industry cyber practitioner on field-tested steps that can meaningfully improve your organization’s security posture and resilience. Get ideas and practical guidance for boosting your security, even without large security teams, dedicated OT staff, or enterprise-level budgets to back you up.

It is easy to get overwhelmed by cybersecurity findings and analyses. The challenge lies in producing clear, measurable, leadership-ready decisions out of this sea of information. Gain strategies for how to translate technical results into priorities for taking action, discuss how to establish effective governance structures, and review steps to adopt a measurable assurance model that positions your organization to proactively tackle cybersecurity challenges.