Embracing and Fostering Diversity in Finance

Welcome back to CFO Weekly, where we're talking with financial leaders about how to build efficiency in their teams, create time for strategy, and ultimately get results with your host, Megan Weis. Let's jump right in.

Megan - 00:00:18: Today, my guest is Jeremy Springer. As Chief Financial Officer of Frontier Energy, Jeremy drives the finance, legal, and digital initiatives needed to support Frontier Energy's work to transform, align, and decarbonize energy systems through intelligent programs and technologies. Jeremy, thank you very much for being my guest on today's episode of CFO Weekly.

Jeremy - 00:00:54: Excellent. Great to join you, Megan.

Megan - 00:00:57: Yeah, we hear a lot about the importance of diversity, but today we're going to be digging into the topic and discussing specific examples related to workforce and supplier diversity and the overall impact it can have on financial performance. And I'm really looking forward to this conversation. So let's jump right in.

Jeremy - 00:01:15: Yeah. I look at diversity as fairly-multifaceted, right? So we could look at Frontier in terms of what our diversity is beyond just supplier diversity, people diversity, service diversity, and also client diversity. So we can jump right into these topics. But I wanted to just kind of preface that really what's really fascinating about Frontier and the things we do is diversity from all facets. Right. So I'll let you. I apologize. Megan.

Megan - 00:01:52: No, absolutely. No, that sets the stage. So thank you for that. So, as always, let's start with you and your story and how it is that you got to where it is you are today.

Jeremy - 00:02:05: Yeah, sure. So my journey as a finance professional actually started in music, believe it or not. As a child, I always dreamed of being a musician and of course, had the great rock star dream from a fairly young age and never even dreamed that I would ever be in accounting and finance. That was the last

Megan – 00:02:27: Few of us do.

Jeremy – 00:02:28: Right. Many of us don't, right? Out of high school, I actually was signed to a record label. This was back in the days when record labels would sign artists and give them big advances to go out and try and make a name for themselves. Had a band. Actually met my wife through that band. She was the bass player, I was the keyboard player, and eventually, as most of these things turn out, the band was kind of a flop and was dropped from the label and I was in a bit of financial dire straits. I owed the label for part of the advance. I didn't really understand what my legal obligations and my rights were. So I went to a friend of mine who was a CPA, and he took me through just step by step, all of the different aspects and different ways that I could really get out of my situation. And I came out of that with going, wow, this is just this tremendous sense of power. Right. I went from feeling like I've got no options and my life is in the dumps so I can actually do something now. So I did get out of that situation thanks to his help, and made it. Eventually went to school for accounting. It was kind of a long tour path there. Worked in structural steel for a time, and worked in various industries, but eventually actually ended up working for my friend and worked through school and learned a lot. Did more corporate tax returns than I would care to remember, and found my way into school at Sacramento State for Accounting. And after I was done, I went to go work for Moss Adams, which is a regional accounting firm, I think most folks have heard of it. Had a great time working for them. The amazing team really learned so much from that role. But when I found out that my wife and I were having a baby and that was 14 years ago I know because it's the age of my son. When I found out we were having a baby, I thought to myself, is public accounting necessarily something that I feel I want to tell my son about when I'm in my final days? Is this something that I feel like something that I really feel is leaving an impact on the world? It's not to say that for some folks it is, but for me, it really wasn't. What really mattered to me was trying to say that look, I've contributed something to the survival of humanity on this planet and that's really what I wanted to tell him. And so that took me to something that my family members have been involved in. My dad's an old-school renewable energy solar guy and has been in the world for quite a while and I've always been exposed to it and it kind of brought me back to those roots of I think that's the world I want to be in. So I found a role as a controller of a small boutique energy firm in Davis called Davis Energy Group. When that company, it became fairly clear that that company would be acquired, should be acquired, we wanted to sell it off and there were some internal things that really couldn't be solved except through acquisition. And went out to from the sell side, I went out to sell that company. We ended up selling that company to a large natural gas researcher in Des Plaines called the Gas Technology Institute. Now they're called GTI Energy and they've really expanded their scope to include all types of energy transition research. And GTI Energy recruited me to go join them in acquiring new firms. So we acquired several new firms and eventually formed Frontier Energy through the acquisition of all those firms, merged all those firms together and that's how I got here. And now as Frontier Energy we're, I would say a mid-sized consultancy in, our area, of energy efficiency and renewables. And, I became CFO, and my partner in this who's been working alongside me, from GTI Energy, Larry Brand. He became president, and we've been working together ever since, really making the Frontier the kind of company we could be proud of.

Megan - 00:07:05: That's an amazing story and definitely, one of the most unique paths to CFO that I've heard to date. Talk to me about Frontier Energy and what it is that you guys do and how you're making a difference.

Jeremy - 00:07:19: Yeah, and that's the funny thing, is so many folks look at us and this kind of blends into the diversity aspect, right? The thing that's difficult to understand about Frontier is our sheer diversity. So we're really, at our core, we're a program management and consulting company, and we really focus on energy efficiency, renewables, and resource conservation. We have consultants across the country. We're really about pioneering. We want to be on the cutting edge and we want to be looking at the intelligent use of energy. And we use the intelligent use of energy as a term in our mission, really allowing both companies and people to use energy in a way that makes sense. There is an enormous amount of energy waste out there right now. There's really so much we can do to impact both climate change and habitat destruction and all the things that are really facing humanity right now through energy savings and energy efficiency. So that's really what we drive at. So we do that through programs, utility programs, research, and technical activities. So our clients are really primarily utilities. We are both public and investor-owned and municipal. And then we do a lot of work with state, local, and federal government. And then we also have another group of clients, large private companies, so private and publicly-traded companies. So think about like automakers and restaurant chains and other types of really big energy users. So we have services that really range across that entire scope. We do things as diverse as EV infrastructure, charging plans to food service equipment, research, and testing. So we will test food service equipment and electrification plans. So that how does a company electrify those who aren't big energy wonks? Electrification is seen as a very critical path to really basing our entire energy infrastructure around renewables. And not to say that gas doesn't have a role, it does, but electrification is something that is a very big drive. So we'll do a lot of work in there, as well as work around researching codes and standards for states that are looking to improve their building, their built environment standards around the building. So, State of California, for example, we have a large, large involvement in the Title 24 standards in the State of California. So really diverse. I could probably go on for another hour about all the different types of services we provide, but I will spare you all of that and we can kind of move on from there.

Megan - 00:10:19: So, as an aside, do you think there's hope for humanity? And what is it going to take for us to get there, two? Because it does seem at times like things are quite dire.

Jeremy - 00:10:33: I go from extreme to extreme from time to time, as I think most folks who are involved in this do. I think there is hope for humanity if we have the willpower. It does feel like things are dire. And, you know, I think the technology is there, the people are there. We have, in some cases, the right politics to get there as well. I do think what it's going to take is just spreading overall awareness that this is not a choice. You don't have a choice. I don't have a choice. We do or we die at this point. And I think if anyone is in our industry, they kind of understand that we can't support economic growth the way we've supported it, we can't support our energy infrastructure needs to be significantly modified and quickly modified. And I do think the willpower is there. We have some really great work going on at the DOE. I always love to hear what Jigar Shah is doing out at the Loan Program's Office and really funding all these really great innovative ideas in energy across even the countries that we think about, like China, as a large coal user. You go to Shenzhen province, there's a significant amount of electrification there, right? So across the world, it is happening and there is an awareness. But I don't think we quite have the broad awareness and the broad understanding needed yet to get there. And that is a big question mark. And it is a question mark that I think brings anyone who's paying attention a bit of anxiety.

Megan - 00:12:27: Yeah, definitely. Change is hard and it takes a long time. I'm hopeful we'll get there in the time we have left.

Jeremy - 00:12:36: Yeah.

Megan - 00:12:37: So diversity, let's talk about that. When did you realize the importance of it? When did it become a topic for you?

Jeremy - 00:12:46: Over the years, it has. I mean, I'm your prototypical white guy, right? I represent kind of the monoculture of business of the past. But in music, like I said, I started my path as a musician and I played primarily funk and soul music, which was really I mean, let's face it, it's Black Americans who pioneered that music. So it really taught me the amount the richness that can be added to an experience through understanding other perspectives. And it also taught me that really, diversity is not so much a function of an ethnic identity or a cultural identity, but more a function of experience. And it just so happens that when someone has a particular identity, they might share a common experience, but really the experience is what counts. And if you ask anyone what really makes them who they are, they'll tell you their experience. And so the hard work of diversity, from my perspective, is getting to know your people, getting to know the people around you, and really asking them the hard questions and understanding who they are and what their experience is. And the value of diversity is all of those different experiences coming together and solving a problem in the room through all of the different contributions that there are. I've really focused on that. And we have at Frontier in general, in hiring is hiring and promoting and putting the right people in the right places of let's make sure we have people that can come together and collaboratively create solutions. And you don't get that without a diverse array of experiences.

Megan - 00:14:47: I think it's easy to surround yourself with people who think just like you, but harder to create a more diverse team. But the results are definitely worthwhile.

Jeremy - 00:14:59: Absolutely. Yeah, it is hard work. And I think it does take kind of the right people around. And you need people that are humble, that can look at themselves critically and understand when maybe they have a reaction to something that is not coming from a place that benefits the whole but is coming from a place that maybe serves their own ego. And it's tough, it's hard work. But I also see this as core to accomplishing big things. You can't accomplish big things unless you create that kind of environment. And I don't want to say that at Frontier we've completely successfully created that environment where this totally we're completely baked and everything's great all the time. It's not just like any company, we have conflict and we're always struggling to find the right path. But to me, that's part of the journey. That's the fun part of it, is that struggle to find the right path.

Megan - 00:16:02: Keeps life interesting. Let's start with workforce diversity. And can you talk to us a bit about the strategies that Frontier Energy has implemented to promote diversity within its workforce?

Jeremy - 00:16:17: Right? Yeah, it all starts kind of with the recruiting process and where you're looking for people, right? What types of communities are you looking for people in? And we do a lot of work in low-income programs and programs where we're really serving culturally diverse communities. And so looking in those same communities for people to hire is pretty key for us. So it kind of starts with that we look at what are the communities we're looking to serve and how do we hire people from those communities? And it is challenging because really look at when you look at our firm, it's all about our people. And it's a very unique skill set that they have. Many of them have to have those skill sets coming in or at least have the ability to acquire those skill sets. And so you don't have a great pool of candidates. So I will say that our Director of HR does a great job hunting down and trying to find the right candidates for the right roles. The other side of that is that you often hear people say they want someone who fits their culture. How are they going to stack into our culture? To me, that's almost a code word for I'm looking for someone who's homogeneous with our culture. We don't necessarily take that perspective. Someone who fits our culture really is anyone who's interested in our mission, who's really interested in what we're doing and why we're doing it. And they can have a million different reasons for that, right? They could be interested in it because they love to go outside and they love to experience what's happening in the outdoors and they see the kind of habitat loss that's occurring right now as a result of an ineffective energy system and an ineffective, really, an economy that needs changing. Right. You can have folks who come into it because they're just passionate about energy and they've got a utility background and we have all of those types of people at Frontier. We have people who are interested in our missions for a million different reasons and people from both sides of the political world right, that people think that, oh, it's really kind of a liberal thing being interested in renewables and energy efficiency and it's really not. It's something that a lot of people from both sides of the political fence can be really interested in for different reasons. And we embrace that. We want everybody because it really is going to take everybody to get this to solve the problems we have in front of us.

Megan - 00:18:51: And I'm just curious, so you mentioned that it's hard to find people who have the backgrounds that are necessary to do these jobs. But are you guys making investments at all in the communities where you're looking for these resources to ensure that they have access to what's needed?

Jeremy - 00:19:10: Yeah, and that's so much of the program work that we are currently doing. So that's part of so many of the programs that we operate in are all about that, making investments in communities. So it does pair nicely from the perspective that the actual work we do is all about investing in underserved communities. So yes, that is really where we are. I mean, that's exactly what we strive to do. Invest in the community, hire from the community, bring people into the firm that really understand that community and conserve the program better.

Megan - 00:19:51: And let's move to supplier diversity. So talk to me about the steps that Frontier Energy has taken to increase supplier diversity within its supply chain.

Jeremy - 00:20:01: Yeah, and this is where it gets really fun and really interesting there are a lot of individual suppliers out there, individual firms, and small firms out there working in the energy transition. And both are both private and nonprofit. We have a tendency to reach out through our programs and look for firms that are doing unique things and people that are doing unique things. And once we identify them, we put them through kind of a partnership process with Frontier. And if you wanted to any suppliers out there who are interested in working with us, you can actually see more on our partner program @frontierenergy.com/suppliers. So a little plug there, but we do allow them to kind of register with us, tell us what they do, we keep them on our roles and we look at different types of opportunities we might be able to pursue with them. When there is a firm that we really identify as a really great partner on a particular program, we really strive to try and find, we keep track of what types of supplier diversity credentials they might have and we really strive to find the optimal mix of suppliers to partner with us on each program. So we are fortunate from a supplier diversity point of view in that our programs really lend to supplier diversity. We also have mandates from our clients that say you are going to have a certain level of supplier diversity, but we've really learned to embrace that. We don't fight it. That's something that we want too. So we found a way to find various partners, keep them in our roles, keep close relationships with them, and keep the communications coming. We also do quite a bit of mentorship. So if there is a supplier that let's say they're not, and for those who are not familiar, there are various registrations you can get for supplier diversity. So in California, where I'm located, we have the supplier Clearinghouse, which is the certification for supplier diversity that most of the utilities use. We help them get certified, we help them understand what certification means. In many cases, we'll help them expand to new business areas. So things that they might not have done before. Maybe we have an expertise in it and maybe we can help a supplier who's adjacent to that business and maybe doesn't really understand it, understand it a little bit more by bringing them into a proposal and putting a little bit of Frontier money into the equation to make sure that they can expand their business and we can succeed together. So it really is a partnership and a teaming with various identified suppliers. And I'm really proud to say we've got hundreds of them now that we're working with across the country, that we have very close relationships too. So that is one of our core values, is relationships and it really feeds into the supplier diversity goals that we have.

Megan - 00:23:06: And you mentioned looking for suppliers who are doing interesting things. So as you look towards the future of energy, what sorts of things are interesting to you?

Jeremy - 00:23:16: Yeah, I think the work that really needs to be done when we look at energy, traditionally energy, for example, I have solar panels on my roof. Right. I have a very efficient home.

Megan - 00:23:29: Me too.

Jeremy - 00:23:31: I also have the means to afford to invest in that. And one of the issues we have is that when you look at multifamily and you look at low-income multifamily, there are split incentive issues there in terms of why would the landlord pay for an improvement when the benefit is going to go to the tenants who are the ratepayers. And there's a lot of work within the multifamily low-income area that we do and a lot of different ways to approach that type of work in terms of getting into those multifamily environments, selling those improvements to the owner of the property. I don't want to get too far into the weeds and name names here, but there's a lot of work that can be done at that stage. And we work with a lot of our suppliers who are really involved in that. And they take a lot of different approaches to not only selling the improvement, to selling the improvement but really making renewable energy and energy efficiency affordable and realistic for people who are lower income. And I think we're doing just fine selling energy efficiency and renewables to people who are higher income. What I think we need to do for the higher-income crowd is let them know that it's more than just putting solar panels on your roof and buying a Tesla. There's more to be done. And if you have the means, you should be leading the way.

Megan - 00:25:05: And let's talk about Client Diversity because this is interesting to me. Talk to us about Client Diversity and how you see that at Frontier Energy.

Jeremy - 00:25:16: Yeah, we are diverse in our clients by necessity, right? Based on the work that we do, we are really concentrated on utilities. But then among utilities, you have utilities that are regulated by different PUCs. And so there's a ton of diversity within that in terms of the way that the utilities view the market and maybe the reasons that they're doing their reasons, they're making improvements. So take the State of Texas, for example. In the State of California, we do a ton of business in California. We do a ton of business in Texas. Texas does energy efficiency because they want to make energy more affordable. They're not necessarily so concerned about climate change in Texas, but we don't really care. We want to help them save energy anyway because we're getting to the same goal. California is a very different market. California utilities are very interested in climate impact. And so just the way that we talk to them and the way that we look at their goals dramatically shifts from California to Texas. Now, not to say there aren't some folks at utilities in Texas that are very interested in climate change. There are, but it's the overall client culture, let's just say, and the environment that they're in and what really drives them. And the same goes for California. You have exceptions in every area, but really learn what the different markets are and how to talk to your clients, whether it's an investor-owned utility or a municipal utility or a public utility, or a co-op electric cooperative. And we have all of those. And we have different folks that kind of understand who know how to get on the ground with them and understand what their needs are and what they're interested in and what we can help them with. So that's just utilities, state, and local government. We do electric vehicle charging infrastructure plans for Counties and for Cities. So again, there's a very different type of conversation depending on the city and the state they're in and what they're looking to do. Are they mainly looking to capitalize on funds that are already there? Do they have already an initiative internally to electrify? How do we help them with that? And then when you get into private companies a large portion of our business is involved in commercial food service and to some degree residential equipment for food preparation. And when you deal with a restaurant owner, for example, we might be talking to a public utility or IOU one day and a restaurant owner the next day who has very, very little margins to go around to spend on making equipment more efficient but sees the value there and wants to do everything they can. So we have a group called the Food Service Technology Center that works with restaurant owners and small businesses to test equipment to really demonstrate the value of saving energy in that environment. And the other side of that is use helping them use the equipment in a way that really does save energy because you can have the most efficient equipment in the world but if you don't understand how to use it in an efficient manner it's not really going to save you anything. It's an immensely diverse group of clients, group of stakeholders. And it really does come back down to that relationships side of it is understand their motivations, understand what they want, and do everything you possibly can to serve them. From my seat as a CFO, that's really my goal and that's really the fun part of my job is that I get to help our consultants meet all these really diverse client challenges and it requires a great deal of flexibility and a great deal of simplicity in terms of programs and processes.

Megan - 00:29:31: Sounds like a very fun and challenging and interesting workplace. Seems like you guys have a lot of opportunities and just seems like a fun place to work.

Jeremy - 00:29:45: It's a blast. We have a great time. I will say this. Every workplace has its share of challenges and has its up days and down days. But overall we have a great time together.

Megan - 00:29:56: So I'm also curious, what do most of your consultants study?

Jeremy - 00:30:01: Yeah, this kind of lends to the workplace diversity question a little bit. It is not universal. We have a lot of folks who come out of environmental, environmental studies, sustainability studies, and programs from across the country. We have a lot of engineers. So people get mechanical engineering degrees and go to engineering schools across the country. So it really depends on the role that they're trying to serve. We even have a professional chef on staff for our Food Service Technology Center. So it really just depends on the role that they're trying to serve. So it kind of comes down to the original thought of where are you going to find the right person to serve the right role. And how can you look for really someone with a good perspective on what needs to get done and a varying perspective to add to the conversation? It is really all over the map. I will say this, I've hired accountants. I've had a lot of success hiring accountants with degrees in liberal arts. I don't know why that is, but many of them work in the accounting industry after finding that they can't use their degree in some way and turn out to be really great accountants after I give them a little bit of guidance and mentorships.

Megan - 00:31:26: That's interesting. So let's talk about the benefits of all of this and financial performance. So how has Frontier Energy's financial performance been impacted by its commitment to diversity?

Jeremy - 00:31:40: It's amazing how a diverse workforce really does improve your sales pipeline and really improves your flexibility and agility financially. So as we've been able to contribute, as we've been able to take on new clients and new work, we really don't get affected by economic downturns. We found a way that since we have such a diverse array of clients, we have a diverse array of services. Depending on what's going on in the external environment, we can really weather most storms. And I always get asked this. It's funny, every board is going to ask, oh no, we're looking like we're going to encounter a recession here. What is your projection for how this is going to impact financial performance? And my answer to them is always, I don't think it's really going to impact financial performance because we've got this section here that we expect is going to do really well. This section here is going to be impacted by the economic downturn, but we're going to make up for it in these other areas of the business and we're going to find ways to move our staff onto the areas that are really booming and take our staff off of the areas that are not. So since we have such diversity in terms of clients, in terms of services, in terms of people, and we are willing to work with our people to develop new skills, we can really weather a lot and we are incredibly resilient as a company.

Megan - 00:33:12: So what advice would you have to someone who's listening, maybe looking around and seeing not a whole lot of diversity in their workplace? Where do you start?

Jeremy - 00:33:23: That's a really good question. I think you need a commitment from your executive team. Number one, and I. Hate to say that if you are not on the executive team, it's really tough to set. I mean, they set the tone. And I will say that you know, we have some folks on our, on our executive team. I mean, you know Jean Krausse, she's our VP of our DSM, Demand Side Management Business Unit. She was a titan of energy efficiency in Texas. She was working with utilities at a time when there were no women in the room at all. And she was the only woman and woman. And you talked to her and she goes, well, most of them looked at me like I was from outer space. But she was so good, she sold them on herself and on the companies that she led. And she's still working with Frontier and she's been a great mentor to our employees. Having folks like that at the top of your organization, it makes such a difference. People who've really understood that the environment is not always cut out for them, the business environment is not always made for them. And they have the adaptability to really inspire change. I don't know that unless you're in that seat unless you're in an executive seat, you can really impact diversity. And so this is to the extent that you can impact it by influencing those around you, but you don't really have the impact that someone might from that level of the organization. I hate to say that. I wish I could say differently, but I think that's kind of why we see such a slow-moving train on diversity in businesses all around the world. We still are from the top-down, white, male-dominated world. I wish I could say differently, but it is changing.

Megan - 00:35:29: It is changing. Yes, slowly but surely.

Jeremy - 00:35:32: It's getting slowly but surely. It's a long, slow crank. But I do think as folks start to understand the resilience, the benefits that diversity can bring a firm, I do feel like it's one of these things where it's, it's gonna it's a there's a snowballing effect taking place there.

Megan - 00:35:51: Jeremy, thank you so much for being my guest today.

Jeremy - 00:35:54: It's been excellent. Thank you, Megan, it's been really wonderful talking to you.

Megan - 00:35:57: Yeah, I really enjoyed learning about you and frontier energy. It sounds like you guys are both doing really wonderful things to all of our listeners. Please tune in next week, and until then, take care.

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