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Name: Amanda Rome
Title: Executive Vice President, Group President Utilities, Chief Customer Officer
Education: Graduated with highest honors from Pennsylvania State University in 2002 with a double major in Advertising and Public Relations and Speech Communication. Graduated Cum Laude from Georgetown Law School in 2006.
Company Description: Xcel Energy is a trusted energy provider that delivers clean, reliable, and affordable energy to customers across the United States. Across our footprint, we operate in eight states and deliver electricity to nearly four million customers and natural gas to about 2 million customers. The company offers a range of services including clean transportation programs, energy-saving programs, and customer support. Xcel Energy is committed to building a sustainable future by investing in clean energy solutions and ensuring reliable energy delivery to its customers
Tell us more about your job. I have responsibility for the overall strategy and performance of Xcel Energy's four operating companies, which collectively provide power to individuals, families and businesses in eight different states. In addition, I oversee our customer-facing organizations: Customer Energy and Transportation Solutions, which manages things such as our Clean Transportation/Electric Vehicle programs and Data Center strategy; Customer Care which includes things like the Customer Contact Center that customers from any of our eight states can call when they have questions or need help; and External Affairs and Policy which is helping us achieve our environmental, social and governance Sustainability and Net Zero clean energy goals. In my previous role as Chief Legal and Compliance Officer, I was responsible for the company's law department and overall legal strategy.
Why is STEM important within your industry? Xcel Energy is responsible for delivering the products (in electricity and natural gas) that power our lives. From heating and lighting our homes to cooking our food to charging our phones - it is essential to our way of life. The lifeblood of our company is grounded in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. Our co-workers use their STEM skills to design and operate the equipment that generates electricity as well as the poles and wires that carry that electricity to our homes, schools and community gathering places. We use technology to innovate to drive the clean energy transition as we dream up amazing new things like battery storage and how to harness the power of geothermal energy using the heat trapped deep beneath the earth's surface.
Why is STEM important to your job? Understanding the complexity of our system is key to running an energy company that delivers what our customers need - clean and reliable energy that is there when you need it.
What do you like best about your job? My favorite thing is being a part of a team. In this role, I get to lead teams of incredibly smart, hard working and dedicated people who are committed to finding better and better ways to deliver on our critical mission.
What are the most important skills needed in your job? There are probably dozens of important skills around reading, technology and problem solving. But what's helped me the most during my journey are three things: 1) I'm authentically myself and don't try and be anyone else 2) I'm trustworthy - I do what I say I'll do; 3) I don't pretend to know it all - I am willing to ask questions and learn from others.
Have there been times in your career where you've faced difficult challenges and how were you able to overcome them? Of course. I tend to take those situations on directly and right away. When a challenge pops up, rarely can you solve it just by waiting around. I take a moment to inspect the challenge and understand it - but I don't sit and admire the problem for long. Once I have a solution and have connected with teammates to get their input, I roll my sleeves up and get after it.
What advice would you give to girls of all ages who are interested in STEM? Challenge yourself - go beyond what comes easy or naturally. As a volleyball coach, I tell my girls that if you're not making mistakes, you're not getting better because you're not challenging yourself enough. Same is true in STEM or anything else...the growth happens when you're stretching.
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A funeral home owner who stashed decomposing bodies and gave families fake ashes, was sentenced to 40 years in prison on Colorado corpse abuse charges.
For some people, addiction and homelessness go hand-in-hand. The Denver Rescue Mission has a long history of helping people in recovery.
The skier from Colorado takes part in her first training session at the Winter Olympics, battling a serious injury two days before her first event.
Final discussions are underway as Colorado moves toward possible changes to how SNAP benefits work in the state.
The woman serving time for the death of rising Colorado cyclist Magnus White will not be moved to community corrections.
American star Lindsey Vonn participated in an official Olympic training event for Women's downhill skiing, hitting the slopes at the Winter Games for the first time after rupturing her left ACL when she crashed in a World Cup race in the Alps.
The New Life Program is designed to help men overcome the struggles that keep them in cycle of addiction and homelessness.
Jon Hallford, a funeral home owner who stashed decomposing bodies and gave families fake ashes, was sentenced to 40 years in prison on state charges of corpse abuse.
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Lincoln Hills, once the largest African American recreational resort west of the Mississippi, was created in response to segregation. Its enduring impact is now on display at History Colorado.
Team USA star skier Lindsey Vonn takes part in her first training session at the Winter Olympics, battling a serious injury two days before her first event.
The 2026 Winter Olympics are bringing thousands of athletes from around the world together for more than two weeks of competition — and the Games are a gold mine for statistics.
The Colorado Eagles have hired Kim Weiss as assistant coach, making her the second woman to reach that role between the American Hockey League and National Hockey League.
Less than two months from the inaugural match for Denver Summit FC, some players are expressing their excitement over what is a homecoming for them.
Lindsey Vonn, 41, said she ruptured her left anterior cruciate ligament, or ACL, but that she was still planning to compete.
The criticism continued even after the White House removed the video after the initial backlash.
The footage is included in a video that promotes false claims that the 2020 presidential election was rigged against Mr. Trump.
A pioneering Cold War-era spy plane sits at the entrance to CIA headquarters, prompting a painstaking effort to preserve an aircraft that once flew 80,000 feet above Soviet missile sites.
The FBI has arrested "one of the key participants" behind the attack on U.S. facilities in Benghazi, Libya, in 2012 that killed four Americans.
Team USA star skier Lindsey Vonn takes part in her first training session at the Winter Olympics, battling a serious injury two days before her first event.
President Trump called GOP Sen. Tim Scott after the South Carolina Republican publicly urged the president to remove a reposted video depicting former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama as apes.
The criticism continued even after the White House removed the video after the initial backlash.
Less than a year after Gov. Jared Polis vetoed a bill to overhaul Colorado's law governing unionization, a House committee approved a new bill that's essentially a carbon copy of the old one.
The footage is included in a video that promotes false claims that the 2020 presidential election was rigged against Mr. Trump.
A pioneering Cold War-era spy plane sits at the entrance to CIA headquarters, prompting a painstaking effort to preserve an aircraft that once flew 80,000 feet above Soviet missile sites.
The Trump administration launched its new TrumpRx direct-to-consumer prescription drug listing site late Thursday, part of a push to offer medication at steep discounts.
On Colorado's Eastern Plains, danger can strike faster than help can reach you. For one rancher in Sterling, a simple chore in his land turned into the fight of his life.
People who call 911 in Aurora for non-emergency medical issues now have the option to be connected to a doctor virtually instead of having an ambulance sent to their location.
An 11-year-old girl in Fort Collins successfully became the 37th child in U.S. history to undergo a liver and heart transplant at one time. Gracie Greenlaw is now home and thriving after receiving the organ donations.
For the past eight years, Louis "Lou" Cicio has celebrated Jan. 30 as his "birthday." Not because it's the day he was born, but because it's the day he nearly died — and survived.
The Trump administration launched its new TrumpRx direct-to-consumer prescription drug listing site late Thursday, part of a push to offer medication at steep discounts.
Millions of Americans lack access to any type of retirement plan, hampering their ability to save for old age.
Employers cut more than 108,000 jobs in January, the highest total for that month since 2009, new data shows.
rysler is recalling more than 450,000 vehicles with improperly designed trailer tow modules whose trailer lights may not work and that have trailer brakes that could fail, federal officials say.
99% of union workers at the JBS meat processing plant in Greeley have voted to strike.
Denver drivers continue to be impacted by a change in how parking tickets are disputed. That system changed in September, when the city eliminated the ability to dispute parking tickets online.
Former Denver Police Chief Paul Pazen, who retired as chief in 2022, plans to announce next week that he is running for a seat on Denver City Council.
Colorado parents are raising concerns after a dispute between their school district and its water provider put the school's future firefighting water supply in question.
An Arapahoe County judge ordered Aurora resident Daniel Alexander Ashby to stand trial for felony assault, after witnesses say Ashby body-slammed defense lawyer H. Michael Steinberg in a courthouse hallway last December.
Newly released documents from the Lakeside Police Department say former Sgt. Howard Prince admitted to cheating on his time records, but also said that in an interview, the sergeant said he didn't know why he falsified his time sheets.