CURENT Industry Seminar: Ms. Katherine Prewitt, Vice President Transmission, Southern Company

Date:  Friday, April 13, 2018

Time:  12:20 – 1:10pm EST

Location: Room 622 Min H. Kao Building, Knoxville, TN

Title: Breaking Your Glass Ceiling

Presenter: Ms. Katherine Prewitt, Vice President Transmission, Southern Company

Abstract: For this seminar, the CURENT Student Leadership Committee has partnered with Systers: Women in EECS at UTK to invite Ms. Katherine Prewitt from Southern Company to speak about her experiences as an accomplished professional in the energy industry. Ms. Prewitt will share anecdotes and personal stories from her career journey, including her current position as Vice President of Transmission at Southern Company. Ms. Prewitt will also discuss observations about the social and professional behavior of men and women around engineering from her perspective as someone in a position of power. Finally, the seminar will conclude with advice from Ms. Prewitt for students and young professionals as they start out their career. 

Bio: As vice president of Southern Company Services Transmission, Katherine Prewitt oversees trans- mission engineering services and planning in support of Southern Company’s operating companies and the southeastern bulk electric system.

Prior to joining Southern Company, Prewitt was senior director of regional
south operations at Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO), where she led real-time operations for the MISO South region and was instrumental in prioritizing diversity and inclusion at MISO through the development of its Women’s Resource Group.

Prewitt spent eight years at Southwest Power Pool, beginning as a system operator and progressing to management roles in which she ultimately served as director of planning, managing multibillion-dollar expansion projects and transmission upgrades across multiple states.

Prewitt began her energy career at Entergy Corporation, where she worked in various engineering and operational roles supporting trans- mission grid integrity, control room operations and expansion proj- ects, among other responsibilities. Prewitt has served on the board of ambassadors for the Arkansas School for Math, Science and the Arts, the board of directors for the Women’s Foundation of Arkansas and as a mentor through its Girls of Promise program. She has also served as an industry advisor for the University of Arkansas at Little Rock College of Engineering and Information Technology as well as the Arkansas Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Coalition.