Spotlight on Jess McCullough
Jess has been the public policy advisor at Minnesota Power for four years. The BBER recently worked with Jess and his team to conduct an economic impact analysis of the M.L. Hibbard Renewable Energy Center to help inform the company’s 2025 Integrated Resource Plan.
What does a typical day look like in your job?
We on the Regulatory Strategy & Policy team are fond of saying that there is no typical day! These are such dynamic times for the energy industry that the scope of projects and priorities for a regulated electric utility are constantly expanding. Having said that, however, my day usually consists of some combination of research, writing, meeting with internal teams, and conducting outreach with external stakeholders. I will also occasionally travel to represent the company before the Public Utilities Commission or at other industry events.
What do you like best about your current job?
My favorite part of this work is problem-solving. The American electrical grid has changed very slowly over the past hundred years, and we are now in a phase of rapid change. Every day I work with a variety of very intelligent, passionate people who are striving to meet the challenges being presented by this new energy paradigm. It’s exciting!
What about your current job do you find most challenging?
The challenge is kind of the opposite side of the same coin. This rapid change means that we now need to develop new approaches and solutions to technical and policy challenges that we haven’t seen before. Fortunately, it presents a great opportunity to get creative in our problem-solving across the board.
If you could snap your fingers and solve any problem facing our community, what would it be?
As the current president of the Duluth Heritage Preservation Commission, I would fully restore Duluth’s many beautiful historical buildings and see them used to provide safe, affordable housing for our city’s residents!
What is the most recent thing you’ve read (besides email)?
I’m in the middle of my friend Stephanie G. Olson’s debut novel Still Chosen: Another Unwanted Adventure. It’s a very fun look at the life of a young-adult style “chosen one,” 20 years after she did the thing she was chosen for.
What is something (knowledge or a skill) you would like to learn?
I’m a big fan of learning something for the sake of learning it. I’ve always wanted to be conversant in an ancient language but have never advanced beyond dabbling in a few of them back in college and graduate school. Wyrd bið ful aræd, I guess! [Wyrd bið ful aræd is Old English and can be translated to mean fate is fixed.]
What is the best piece of advice you’ve received that has helped you in your career?
There are many ways to do something you care about. If you care about the climate, for instance, you don’t necessarily need to be a STEM scientist. The climate needs scientists, but it also needs policy professionals, and accountants, and lawyers, and foresters, and teachers, and artists. Finding your fit isn’t so much about what your degree is in as it is the skills you develop in the process and how it makes you feel to apply them. (Take it from a guy who has a PhD in archaeology but works in regulatory policy!)