High Voltage takes center stage in this season of Hitachi Energy's Power Pulse podcast. We promise to bring you great content from the brightest minds in the business. We'll discuss challenges, opportunities, and all the hot topics any high voltage enthusiast or anyone interested in sustainability, for that matter, is sure to enjoy.
This episode of the podcast, we'll tell you that even though Hitachi Energy is the perfect place for engineers, physicists, and chemists, to name but a few, it is also the perfect place for anyone wanting to pursue a career in a number of other professions. Ana Camarero is the global CFO at the High Voltage unit. She’s not an engineer. Her background is in finance, a field she has worked in throughout her 25 year long career in the company. Welcome back to Power Pulse.
I'm your host, Sam Dash, and today I'm speaking with Anna Camarero, Global Chief Financial Officer at High Voltage. Hi Ana. Hi. So, Anna, I've heard you've been with Hitachi Energy for 25 years. Is that right? It's correct. That's beautiful. So you have a real connection with the company? Yes. Can you tell me a bit about the Ana 25 years ago? And what made her decide on a career in the energy sector? Okay. 25 years ago, I was only 22.
Okay, so in full transparency, I didn't decide it for the energy sector at that point in time. I just finished the university, and I was just willing to find a job in which I could learn. And then I heard that this company had a global training program for finance. Also, maybe we talk later about that program because it's very nice and that they gave you the opportunity to be on an 18 month, rotating six months in different positions. Oh, wow. So I found it very interesting.
And I thought, okay, if I get the chance, then I would get to know better what I want to do right? So I applied and I was lucky enough to be selected. And that's how I started in this company. And so it sounds like very holistic training, getting to see all those different positions and what they feel like. Exactly. The idea is that you rotate in three positions, six months each position in different departments or in different countries even. Right.
You have a mentor and then you can discuss, ‘I feel okay here. I don't like this one’, so you can select the right place for you. And it was very nice. I didn't finish it, to be honest, because I was in the first assignment and then the person that I was working for left, and then they asked me, would you think you are able to do this job? And I said yes, which is was not. But I say yes. Yeah, yeah. And then I stayed there.
So I didn't select the industry, but I think it's more important that I decided to stay than the first decision, when you don't know what you want to do. Well, it sounds like someone saw something in you, saw potential in you, and you said yes to this opportunity, even not necessarily knowing that you could do it, but the fact that someone believed in you, maybe helped you put faith in it.
Actually, that is one of the main things that I always repeat to my kids and to everyone that works for me, that everybody can do everything. It might take more effort or less, depending on your initial capabilities, but at the end you cannot limit yourself. You know, because I strongly believe that everyone can do everything with more or less effort depending, but you can still do it.
And that's some of the beauty of humanity, is that sometimes others can see great ability in you, even if you can't at that moment. Yeah. You are the chief financial officer of a large business unit. That is a very impressive job from the outside as well as the inside, I'm sure. What would you say are key things that got you to that place in terms of work ethic or the way you approach things? Okay, that is a question that should be done.
We mainly the people that gave me the different opportunities, but I believe, as you said, I'm quite honest when I work. So I honestly do the things the best way I can. And since I have been 25 years in this company, I feel it's like mine. So I work as if the company was mine and in all sense, when utilizing the resources of the company, when dedicating time with the commitment and so on. So I think that is one of the key topics. You sort of treat it like it's one of your children.
I don't know if childrens, but if it is mine, you know, so I honestly care– Yeah. About everything then I have a lot of commitment. And then I guess is also it’s a bit of luck that I was surrounded by leaders that decided that I could take the opportunity in line with what you were saying before. Sometimes even before, I thought I could do it. Timing is key. Yeah, yeah. Also, I have never planned for this.
You know, because as I said, and I think everything is in relation since I told you, I'm quite honest, when I work, I work as if I would be in that position forever. So I don't have a hidden agenda, or I take all the risks that I think are good for the job or for the business. I don't say I will not go in these direction, because if I do a mistake then it will damage my career later. I am not like that. I'm fully committed. As if I would be there forever.
Yeah. And yeah I think it's basically, it’s like that but I don't know, I would need to ask the people that gave me the opportunity. Yeah. We'll ask some of those people in the next season. Yes. And so as someone who is not an engineer, the energy industry can be quite daunting for me to wrap my head around sometimes. And I imagine others might feel the same way.
Can you break it down for us and share what it's like to be inside the industry and what is particularly exciting about it for you right now? Okay, yeah. It's true. When I arrived to this company, you have an additional complexity not being an engineer, right? Because it is not the kind of company doing lollipops or bread or something that you can really understand. Yeah, something very tangible.
If you are not an engineer and they start talking to you about impedance and short circuits or whatever. Any sort of jargon that they maybe throwing around. Yeah. At the beginning you said, okay, what they are talking about, you know, and then you feel like I will never get to understand this at the beginning. Yeah. But it's like everything. You end up learning. Of course, I cannot design a Transformers. I cannot do these kind of things.
But I think I have a pretty good idea of what we are doing and why we are doing it. And once you get to know, it's really amazing, right? Because you are contributing to the energy transition or we are contributing in the energy transition in a way that when you get to know, you feel really, really proud. Yeah. So coming back to the last portion of your question that you were asking right now, right now is a unique momentum for this industry.
And that is what I feel at least because of all the energy transition. And we working in a company that is leader in energy is something that not only the engineers, but everybody feels very proud of. And so in the span of your career, how has the technology evolved either here at Hitachi Energy or in the industry more widely? The technology, I mean, we have been working and we invest a lot in R&D but the technology was quite a stable for the first, I would say 15 years.
We were doing improvements on the capabilities of our products and so on. But the technology, in essence was the same now and that's why I was saying it's a unique momentum. Yeah. We are doing a total revolution of our portfolio, introducing the new technology that allows us to avoid the SF6, which it is a gas that we use for insulation, and not only us, but the whole industry, but it has some environmental impacts that we need to work to reduce, right?
Now, it's a unique momentum because this portfolio that we have, or that we used to have had been there for decades, and now we are completely changing the whole portfolio to make it more, significantly, more environmentally friendly. And that is a unique momentum because this happens in this industry once in a lifetime, maybe. Right.
And speaking more about sort of the evolution of the industry to pivot a little bit, there are still, as I'm sure you know, gender gaps in the energy industry, but more and more companies have been championing diversity, equity and inclusion. Would you tell us about your experience at Hitachi Energy as a leader in the field and what you're picking up across the industry?
Yeah, look in the finance organization within this company, if we talk about gender diversity, there is no gap because in finance, I don't know the exact number now, but females are even about 50% right? Right. As an example, in my team in finance, in HV, we are around 150 people, more or less a bit more. But in my closest team of 12 people out of the 12, five are female, the rest are male. We have seven different nationalities. Yeah, Spanish, Italian, German, Indian, Chinese.
So we have seven different nationalities. So in my closer environment it is quite diverse, not only about gender but also nationalities, culture, religion, you name it. Right. In the company in general. True that we have a gap to close, but I think it will come. It takes time, right? But it will come. Yeah. I think it's very relevant, the diversity and the identity, because it brings a lot of diversity of thought, which helps to the innovation. People that are alike thinks alike. Right.
So the more diversity you bring into the discussion, the better – can be gender diversity, can be identity, can be neurodiversity. So there are many aspects that will contribute to the enrich the discussion. Right. All those different perspectives add to a wealth of knowledge and understanding and inevitably create more possible solutions.
Exactly. Yeah. In terms of ideas and possible tracks that people can take within the energy sector or within high voltage, what are other careers that are available to someone who maybe doesn't want to be an engineer, but wants to be involved in Hitachi Energy or High Voltage? I mean, there are many things that non-engineers can do in Hitachi Energy.
There are communication, HR, finance and even in the business I mean, not from the beginning maybe because you need to get to know the industry but marketing and sales. But at the end with time when you get to understand the industry and what we are doing and how we are doing, why not? Someone that is not an engineer could take a management position that is normally assigned to an engineer.
Yeah. I mean, it is not that common, but it happens from time to time when you have the capabilities, because at the end, once you have all the experience and you have a team you believe in and you trust, you don't need to know everything. You need to trust in your team, and then you need to manage that team and leader it. Yeah. And I've asked a few guests this question, and I think it's fascinating because everyone has their own unique answer.
If you could give any career advice to a younger generation considering a career in energy, what would that advice be? I mean, I would say that they will be surprised because it is a fascinating industry that contributes in many aspects to their improvement in their society. Now we are with the energy transition and I mean more environmentally friendly and finding ways to reduce the CO2 emissions, right. And we are heavily contributing to that.
But before that, we were electrifying places in which the electricity was not present. We were therefore doing an easier life for a lot of people living in places that are remote or without access to electricity. So even before this momentum we are now, it was very rewarding to see those kind of projects. So at the end, when you work in an industry, you need to share the purpose.
And that's one of the reasons why I'm here 25 years later, because you need to be proud of what you are doing because you spent a lot of time working, right. So if you are not in connection with the purpose of the company, then it makes it very difficult. Yeah, that actually makes me want to ask you specifically, are there any memorable experiences or inspiring projects that made you feel, as you say, more emotionally invested or proud of the work you do at High Voltage? There are many.
Yeah. Because in 25 years but I will maybe mention that one of the last ones in June 2022, we were in a business trip. Some of the management team in high voltage, including the managing director in the US, and one of the meetings was a customer meeting with a utility called Eversource, which is a utility that is supplying the Boston area. And we were discussing about the possibility to install the the first EconiQ DTB 400 kV in their network. And that was just an idea at that point in time.
Okay, we were working on R&D to develop that breaker, but it was not ready yet. And after some discussions, we agreed, okay, in one year from now you will have it delivered. Yeah. So then the countdown begins and you get to work, right? Exactly. Especially for the technical guys. And in June 2023, we deliver the breaker. We did a very nice ceremony in our Mount Pleasant Factory in the US.
Which not only their customer was of course, they were there receiving the breaker, but a lot of other customers were there and see their enthusiasm during the full year of the R&D people, technical guys, not only marketing and sales, everybody in the team working on that project. And then even when we arrived to the US for the ceremony, all the people in the factory, how they were preparing the factory to be ready for the ceremony, it was very nice and very rewarding.
And so that one I remember with a special feeling because I was in the full process, I was very lucky to be in the full process because I like to join customer meetings, which is not frequent sometimes for finance, unless you are claiming some collections and things like this. But I enjoy joining the customer meetings because it helps me to better understand the industry. As I was telling you before, Yeah The more you can learn, the better because it's a complex industry.
So I was lucky enough to be in the full process with the customer at the beginning while they were developing. Our technical guys, all the breaker, the design, the testing, it passed, how they were feeling proud with every step. And then when we deliver to the customer, I was also present. So I feel I was very lucky to be in a full thing Yeah, yeah.
Well, if any of our listeners are as inspired as I am by what you've been talking about, where could they find the materials to apply for work at Hitachi Energy? We publish all our open positions in our website. I think there is a career space. Yeah. And you can see all the positions that are currently open by location, by function. It's sorted in different ways so you can find it easily.
Terrific. And then I guess they just need to apply and then wait a bit because the process might take a bit long, because we take seriously the people we hire and, and we try to find always the best. Yeah. In parallel, I would like to say because we are here that the global training program that I was mentioning at the beginning, I started the company with is relaunched. Yeah. In Hitachi Energy in November 2023 I think it was launched. Amazing.
So for people in finance, there is this global finance training program. I think it's launched in Europe, in Sweden, in Switzerland, in Poland. Then we have also launched it in the US, in China and in India. Yeah. So it's open also for applicants who may want to join the team. And people can find that on the Hitachi Energy website. Fantastic. Well, thanks so much for joining us today and it's been an absolute pleasure. Thank you to you for the invitation. You're welcome.
You've provided critical insight and guidance for our listeners through sharing your experience and in real commitment. Thank you. Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Power Pulse. Until next time. And that's it for today. We'll be back soon with some more great content. But before you go, remember to give us a follow so you don't miss an episode. Thanks for tuning in. See you soon. This episode was brought to you by Hitachi Energy. Created and introduced by Bárbara Freitas-Daniels.
Content and script writing by Cassandra Inay. Guest speaker Ana Camarero. Hosted by Sam Dash. Produced and edited by Creative Chimps.