Frank Mannarino, '02 MBA

BAA: Could you share your career journey so far? How did your MBA from the University of Alberta contribute to your career progression?

Looking back, I once thought careers followed a linear path, but mine took a different course. I graduated with a degree in chemical engineering from the University of Alberta in 1988 and joined Imperial Oil in the fertilizers business, expecting a technical career. After six years in technical and engineering roles, I moved into business analysis before pursuing an MBA part-time in 1996. As the business changed hands, I joined Shell Canada in 1997, advancing to refinery business manager by 2002, then overseeing heavy oil upgrading operations. In 2010, I transitioned to EPCOR, initially as VP in water, later becoming Senior VP in electricity operations, where I managed safety, efficiency  and business transformation. Following eight years, I moved to corporate services, overseeing HR, IT and customer care, and now lead water services as Senior VP. My MBA has been invaluable, particularly in understanding finance, strategy and business operations — skills crucial to my evolving roles across technical, operational, and leadership areas.

BAA: Can you tell us about your first leadership position and how it shaped your approach to leading large teams today? And how would you describe your leadership style today?

In my first leadership position, I supervised a small team engaged primarily in economic optimization of a refinery operation. This team was staffed with technical people, and what I learned is not to expect others to approach a problem or situation in the same way you would and to trust their judgment and contributions. I learned to offer coaching and support when needed and to hold both others and myself accountable for the results. Over the years, as I have taken on larger and more complex multi-team and multi-layer organizations, I have tried to build on and refine that approach. I have been fortunate to have worked with some great leaders during my career and I have learned from all of them.

The evolution of my leadership thinking started with the concepts of “servant leadership,” focusing on the importance of supporting others and removing barriers to achieve business goals, to understanding people’s motivation and leading with purpose.

Woven through this is having a clear understanding of strategy versus planning, the importance of execution driven by strong accountability, and balancing the appropriate level of risk. Underpinning this has been a solid focus on developing and preparing others for leadership, including ensuring appropriate energy is devoted to mentorship and succession planning.

BAA: What core values guide your decision-making process as a leader, particularly in a large organization?

In overseeing the organizations I have been part of, the core values that both guide me and I work to instill in the team are: collaboration and selflessness, equity and fairness, work ethic, alignment of authority with accountability and leadership visibility and accessibility. Modeling and rewarding collaborative, versus competitive behaviors pays long term dividends to the organization. The lack or perceived lack of equity and fairness in a work environment, whether it be compensation, work conditions or opportunity, erodes both engagement and performance.

Work ethic and strong values, particularly in leadership and professional teams, are important to model for the rest of the workforce. Developing accountable leadership is the key responsibility of senior leaders. The alignment of this accountability with authority to take action and make decisions is crucial. Lastly, leadership needs to be visible and accessible to the workforce. A remote, out of touch leadership group will struggle to create an engaged, high performing organization.

BAA: How do you envision the role of technology and innovation in improving water services?

This is a complex, multi-faceted question. Any large-scale industrial operation leverages both technology and innovation to ensure safe, reliable and cost-effective delivery. The same applies to the production and distribution of water as well as collection and treatment of wastewater for more than a million people. In the water and wastewater space, the treatment plants already leverage a considerable amount of operational technology. In Edmonton for example, the opportunity is to expand the use of operational technology in the monitoring of the water distribution and wastewater collection systems. The ability to remotely monitor water consumption (and therefore wastewater production) in Edmonton is a near term project that will be completed in the next few years. This will give EPCOR Water Services an unprecedented opportunity to improve both system operation and response, providing benefit to customers. Recent advances in artificial intelligence capabilities, some of them coming from the University of Alberta, provide a further opportunity for technology adoption in the future. We are just starting this journey now and working with a company that originated at the University of Alberta.

As a utility company, EPCOR collects a lot of data on water and electricity usage. This is needed for billing purposes and is subject to strict security and privacy protocols. However, when aggregated, it becomes a powerful tool to improve operations and drive efficiencies that enhance the customer experience. The key to making good operational use of data is a data analytics platform and approach. In EPCOR, this was first achieved a few years ago in the electricity side of our business. The first step was the installation of advanced metering infrastructure that allowed EPCOR to read electricity usage remotely at frequent intervals, primarily for billing purposes. This data was then aggregated and combined with modernized control systems to create an integrated system that alerts EPCOR when the power is out in a neighborhood, which then triggers a response from the operations teams to restore the power. Often EPCOR is aware of a power outage before customers even notice it. Before this system was introduced the grid operations team relied on customers calling EPCOR when they noticed that the power was out, resulting in a slower response.

We are currently embarking on a similar journey on the water and wastewater side of our business. The first step will be to install remote metering of water usage by customer, again primarily for billing purposes. Once this project is complete, we intend to use the combined data to improve operations in several ways, including better leak detection on customers’ water systems and better operation of the water distribution and collection systems.

BAA: As the Edmonton region continues to grow, how are you and your team preparing to meet the increasing demand for water services while ensuring environmental sustainability?

Edmonton and the surrounding communities are in a relatively solid position when it comes to managing growth in the region and long term sustainability. A few reasons for this: first, the Edmonton region is blessed with a good supply of water, even if you project forward into the future and consider the impact of climate change. The second reason is that, for many years now, Edmonton has experienced strong water conservation efforts. These efforts have included reducing water losses in the distribution system, strong conservation messaging and a rate structure conducive to water conservation. As a result, Edmonton’s per capita water consumption continues to decrease year after year. This decrease has more or less offset population growth in the region, resulting in a similar total amount of water production. Edmonton and surrounding communities have generally responded well to water conservation efforts. That said, at some point, there will need to be an expansion of the water treatment plants and the wastewater treatment plant. EPCOR has rigorous integrated resource planning approaches and updates its long term infrastructure outlook every few years. This has included a comprehensive review of sanitary and stormwater infrastructure to ensure that investments are targeted to those areas where we need to manage any environmental or flooding risk.

BAA: How do you foster leadership development and growth among your team members? 

It is important to make a distinction between management and leadership to address this question. This is one of the first discoveries a person makes in their leadership journey. Whereas good management is essential for a well-functioning organization, good leadership is what is needed for long term success and must be a priority for all senior leadership teams. Developing leadership skills in a team is more art than science, and EPCOR has established processes and tools to help this process.

However, real progress is made through senior leadership showing an interest in, and devoting time toward, building individual leadership capabilities. This involves mentoring emerging leaders, not only directly but also seeking others to mentor depending on individual needs. It also involves providing honest and timely feedback, acting as a sounding board, coach, cheerleader and advocate. The quality I look for first in emerging leaders is a high capacity to grasp both the intellectual and practical challenges of the business. Secondly, I value a strong action orientation, and the ability to make decisions and act with less than perfect data in a timely fashion. Third, an ability to build relationships with others, at all levels and across the organization, is important. Lastly, leaders must have the ability to embrace, absorb and engage in change to drive greater organizational effectiveness.

Growth as a leader is absolutely essential, as the workplace environment continues to evolve. The primary method I have relied on to improve my leadership skills is to take something from all of the good leaders I have been fortunate to work for and with. I do not think it is wise to try to emulate 100 per cent of another leader’s style as leadership effectiveness is to some extent inter-woven with one’s personality. What worked for them is not necessarily going to work for you. Over the course of my career, I have come to learn the importance of acting with urgency and visible leadership from one person, and about openness to wide views and collaboration from another leader, to name a few examples. I can also name a few key books from relatively recent literature that have influenced my leadership thinking, including Colin Powell’s It Worked for Me: In Life and Leadership, Daniel Kahneman’s Thinking Fast and Slow, Daniel Pink’s Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates US and Simon Sinek’s Start with Why.