Lillian Mirviss, Project Manager, OhmConnect

OhmConnect is a residential demand response software platform that enables users to get paid for reducing their energy use at targeted times.  Users sign up for the program and give OhmConnect access to their energy usage data through their smart meter.  When the grid is stressed, OhmConnect sends users a text message, and if the user is able to lower their energy usage below their established baseline, OhmConnect pays them for doing so.

What do you actually do all day?

We’re a venture-backed startup and the focus of my role is to look at different ways to bring in money to the company outside of traditional VC circles, such as grants and awards.

For example, the California Energy Commission has a number of grants available.  One that I’m working on at the moment focuses on increasing access to energy-saving products in low-income and disadvantaged communities.  My role is to think of ways we could utilize these funds to help more users in these communities access and benefit from our services.

I’m also working on another grant exploring the possibility of incorporating battery storage with smart devices in residences.  It’s easy to save energy by simply not running your washing machine during an #OhmHour (our energy-saving events), but if you could use smart devices to turn things off or use residential battery storage automatically, that would be really powerful for reducing demand in homes.

My role involves a lot of policy work, business development, and marketing.  It’s a combination of creatively thinking outside the box and finding new ways to enable the product to reach different demographics and technologies, and my goals are parallel to our core businesses’ quarterly goals.

When I start a new project, I usually start with discussions with our internal team.  Our staff is very knowledgeable and we have a lot of different areas of expertise.  I make sure the project is aligned on the product side, the policy side, the engineering side, the marketing side, and with the state clean energy objectives (for example, reducing greenhouse gases, including disadvantaged communities in the clean energy transition, increasing battery storage penetration in states like New York, California, etc.).  From there we reach out to different groups, like battery storage providers or organizations that work with disadvantaged groups.  It helps to ensure we have a really strong proposal that incorporates experienced stakeholders.

What are some of the key skills for success in this role?

Writing is first and foremost.  I was hired because of my writing skills and I don’t think people understand how important those are when applying for jobs.  Second is relationship building, both with internal folks and external stakeholders.  The third is general verbal communication, which folds into relationship building.  You also need to make sure you are prioritizing things so that you’re not overwhelmed but are still working on projects relevant to the company.  It’s so easy to want to do a lot of interesting things, but it’s important to communicate that with your manager to ensure each project works well for the company.

What is your favorite part of your job?

I love my co-workers.  We’re all really passionate about the mission of the company and we’ve got a really great company culture.  We practice what we preach and we’re always iterating our culture – if people aren’t happy we stop to think how we can change it.  For example, we’ve had discussions around diversity and inclusion, women in the workplace, and introverts vs extroverts.  The leadership team really encourages this open environment.

What is the hardest part of your job?

A lot of the work that I do looks at funding that starts in 2020 or is through 2024.  It’s very challenging to take a step back and think strategically about long term goals, especially at a startup where our philosophy is “move fast and break things.”  I used to work at the California Energy Commission, so I come from this very bureaucratic background, where everything moved at a slower pace and people focused on much longer-term thinking.  When you work towards quarterly goals like we do at OhmConnect, two years from now can feel very far away. But, we do get started executing on project ideas so that we’re prepared for a few years from now.

What is your proudest professional achievement?

Every year, the research and development division of the California Energy Commission puts out an annual report to the California state legislature.  My first year of working there I led the development process for the entire report.  I was managing senior staff and got to jump right in and get my hands dirty with policy work that I was really excited about.  I like to think that innovative research sets the stage for projects that will be relevant five years from now, like how small grant projects get things going for tech that otherwise wouldn’t have a chance to blossom.

What are the game changers in your world?

In order for OhmConnect to pay users for energy reductions, we need our users to have smart meters and we need access to the data from that meter.  That means at the moment we can only work with investor-owned utility customers in California (Pacific Gas and Electric, Southern California Edison, and San Diego Gas & Electric) or certain areas of Texas and Ontario, Canada.  A huge game changer for us would be if more areas rolled out smart meters and had the legislation in place to allow companies like us access to the data.  I believe New York is getting close.

What was your path to this role?

I’ve always been really interested in energy.  In college I interned at the California Energy Commission (CEC) and the Governor’s office and got to work on some high-level policy work.  At the CEC I learned about nuclear policy and at the Governor’s office I focused on distributed energy resources.  I then went to graduate school and was an Environmental Defense Fund Climate Corps fellow at Gap Inc., where I learned a lot about renewables.

After grad school I was looking into jobs in energy storage and OhmConnect popped up on my LinkedIn feed.  The CEO had posted an article, a friend of mine had liked it, and that friend was able to connect me to the CEO.  It was a great fit culturally and professionally, and I was excited about the opportunity to work in a startup and wear a lot of hats and work on many different aspects of energy.

What’s your advice to someone interested in a role like this?

Keep an eye on LinkedIn; networking is huge.  When I first finished grad school I emailed every person in my network letting them know what I was looking for.  That way when I reached out to them later, I was already on their radar for new job opportunities.  Going to conferences is also really helpful just to get you into the networking mode, put your brand out there, and have something constructive to do while looking for a job.

What are your favorite resources?

First, I read Utility Dive every day. I’m subscribed to their daily news digest and it keeps me up to date.  Second, anywhere you go there should be a “women in energy” or “women in cleantech” or “women in CSR” group to join.  It’s usually a smaller, tighter group of professionals.  It’s nice to get together with people in the field that you don’t work with directly and are open to collaborating on work strategy and office politics.  Groups like that are great for things like “what’s it like to negotiate for a salary” or being the only woman in a room, or how to speak up.

Who is your sustainability hero?

I adore California Governor Brown.   The policies that he pushes forward really set the stage for the rest of the nation.  For me and for the policy work, I really love working towards the goals that he puts forward.