Liberty Utilities - Vice President, Transformation

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About the Company

Liberty Utilities, a subsidiary of Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp, is a $10+ billion North American diversified generation, transmission, and distribution utility company. The distribution business group provides rate regulated water, electricity, and natural gas utility services to over 750,000+ customers in the United States. The transmission business group invests in rate regulated electric transmission and natural gas pipeline systems in the United States, and Canada.

Liberty Utilities vision is to be the utility company most admired by customers, communities, and investors for their people, passion, and performance.

Scope of Position

Reporting to the COO, the Vice President – Transformation is responsible for shaping and executing the Customer Strategy by modernizing, standardizing, and digitizing operations to deliver a step-change in how Liberty Utilities serve their customers, deliver more efficient operations and support the on-going growth aspirations of the business. This includes standardizing multiple ERP, CIS, and EAM solutions, and implementing a standard SAP-based utility solution across the entire APUC portfolio.

The Vice President – Transformation will be accountable for leading a cross-functional team to refine the strategy, business case, and delivery plan, and then execute on it, including ensuring the necessary operating model and change management activities are undertaken. The Vice President – Transformation will lead this team and work with the Executive Team, business owners, and functional leaders to ensure this program is successfully delivered and the anticipated benefits are realized for their employees and their customers.

As a member of the Operations Team, the Vice President – Transformation contributes to the development of the Company’s strategy and business planning and the financial success and growth of the Company.

Functional Tasks

Lead a cross-functional team of internal employees, consultants, and contractors to successfully deliver the Customer First program;
Working with the Executive Team, IT organization, and responsible business leaders to refine the strategy, business case, delivery plan for the Customer First program, rolling out SAP for core ERP, CIS, and EAM functions. Including defining a clear scope, measurable success criteria and quantifiable benefits;
Working with the business define the standardized ‘to be’ customer journeys and business processes; recognizing the unique make-up of the APUC businesses;
Identify ‘quick win’ opportunities to deliver benefits quickly;
Develop the change management strategy and approach to successfully deploy the solution and change employee and leadership behaviors to deliver the anticipated benefits;
Ensure the project team has understand the true regulatory requirements for the organization, and confirm that the solution and/or appropriate workarounds are in place to maintain compliance;
Develop and implement strategies to manage key implementation risks, in particular, around receiving customer payments, paying employees, and closing financial accounts;
Ensure appropriate governance and controls are implemented to support successful project delivery with an ambition of delivering the program to time and budget, but ensuring no surprises should that not be possible;
Developing and leading a broader set of cultural changes across the organization that build capabilities to put the customer first, build organizational agility and is focused on continuous improvement;
Work with IT and the business on developing the approach for enhancing the technical solution and business processes/customer journeys post-implementation to enable on-going improvements;
Develop an approach to deploy the business processes and technical solution to future acquisition targets on the regulated or unregulated side;
Work with functions and business units to contribute to and advocate proactive policy positions and execute corrective legislative and regulatory strategies to secure successful cost recovery;
Provide visibility to the Executive Team, and the Board on the programs progress, risks, and successes;
Hold the project delivery partners accountable for their role in ensuring the successful delivery of the program, minimizing any costs that they look to pass onto the company.

Preferred Experience / Education

Bachelor’s Degree in Finance, Business, Accounting or related areas;
A minimum of 15+ years of experience with operations management, process automation, customer and systems strategy, strategic planning, business process reengineering, change management strategy, and project management;
3+ years Executive level or Vice President experience in a large corporation;
Experience with engaging senior leaders in defining and delivering complex technology solutions across a broad enterprise landscape;
Experience leading and motivating large cross functional high performing teams in multiple locations in a highly regulated environment;
Experience as a high-level orchestrator of a complex process that involves large numbers of discrete initiatives;
Experience with the implantation of ERP, CIS, SAP and EAM solutions;
Experience managing projects in excess of $100+ Million;
Experience in deal structuring and alliance formation when undertaking projects;
Improved understanding of effective business and technical communication at all levels, both internally and externally;
Direct involvement in and responsibility for financial analysis, negotiations strategy and post-merger integration;
Experience in developing and implementing customer strategies including defining customer journeys;
Experience of organizational change management to drive a change in employee behaviors to deliver anticipated outcomes;
Advanced knowledge MS Office (Excel, Word, Outlook);
Confident, personable, professional presence;
Focused, results-oriented individual with ability to multi-task and perform under pressure;
Excellent written and oral communication skills are required. Facilitates work flow of finance personnel with other departments and home office. Must be able to lead personnel and various situations as they arise. Ability to communicate recommendations regarding procedure development and implementation;
Certified Credit Executive (CCE) and Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) are considered desirable.
A proven track record of success leading cross-functional teams of 300+ across North America is required’.

Note

Liberty Utilities is an equal opportunity employer and value each person’s unique background, diversity, experiences, perspectives and talents. Full participation of all employees in a safe, healthy and respectful environment is key to individual and company success. Liberty Utilities is committed to fully utilizing the abilities of all of Liberty Utilities employees and expect each of Liberty Utilities employees to honor this commitment in their daily responsibilities.

Liberty Utilities works to ensure their application process is accessible to all candidates. If you require special assistance or accommodation during the hiring process, please notify the Talent Acquisition Team.

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Liberty Utilities – Vice President, Transformation