Calendar of Events - Event
Event Scheduled for Oct 5, 2012
Event: Civil & Environmental Engineering Colloquium - “CL&P's new emergency preparedness and response program and lessons learned from the storm events of 2011”
Location: Castleman Building, Room 212
Time: 12:00 pm
Details of Event:
“CL&P's new emergency preparedness and response program and lessons learned from the storm events of 2011” presented by Bill Quinlan, Senior Vice President, Connecticut Light & Power (CL&P), subsidiary of Northeast Utilities (NU).
Abstract: The second half of 2012 marked the occurrence of two of the costliest natural disasters to strike Connecticut. In August, Hurricane Irene knocked out power to over 600,000 residents. Those who believed this to be a worst-case scenario were presented less than two months later with an even larger outage. In October, Alfred delivered a rare October snowstorm resulting in the loss of power to over 800,000 customers. The public and municipal officials were upset with the response from utilities to these storms. However, the events pointed not just shortcomings in the utility preparedness, but an overall need to improved emergency preparedness among utilities, local and state programs, and NGOs. Since the storm, The State and utilities have adjusted disaster plans, fostered collaboration, and improved communication. A detailed account of CL&P efforts is given in a recent Hartford Business Journal article (insert link).
A key element of CL&P’s plan was the creation of a new position - senior vice president for Emergency Preparedness. In this position, William J. Quinlan is responsible for leading the consolidation and integration of CL&P and Yankee Gas’ planning and response to emergencies, including storms, as well as for putting protocols in place to allow CL&P to partner effectively with state and municipal officials during any type of emergency. He also leads the company’s electric vehicle and distributed resources programs.
Bio: Prior to assuming his current role, Quinlan served as vice president - Customer Solutions and vice president - Field Maintenance for CL&P and Yankee Gas. Quinlan has extensive operations, legal, regulatory, technology and business experience, first joining NU in 1984 as an assistant engineer in the nuclear program. In 1993, he joined NU's Legal Department as an attorney and later became deputy general counsel. From 2003 to 2007, he served as president and chief operating officer of NU Enterprises, Inc. (NUEI), the holding company for NU's competitive businesses. Before joining NU, he was employed by the General Electric Company at its Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory in upstate New York.
A native of New Haven, Connecticut, Quinlan graduated from Villanova University in 1982 with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering. He received a Master of Business Administration from the University of New Haven in 1989 and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Connecticut School of Law in 1992.
Sponsored By: Civil and Environmental Engineering
Pamphlet/Flyer: No Pamphlet/Flyer Available
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