Flipping the switch on energy: Emily Heitman of Schneider Electric Canada 

Emily Heitman:  

We’ve been building electrical equipment for over a hundred years now, but with digital innovation and AI, we can really create a world where we optimize energy usage in ways we never could have imagined. 

 

Goldy Hyder: 

Welcome to Speaking of Business, conversations with innovators, entrepreneurs and leaders. I’m Goldy Hyder, President and CEO of the Business Council of Canada. We live in a country that is rich in energy, so much so that I think most of us probably take for granted. The idea that when you flip a switch the lights go on. We might not dwell much on what makes the lights go on, but Emily Heitman does. As the country president of Schneider Electric Canada, she thinks a lot about electricity, electrical grids, and how to keep the lights on, not just now, but for years to come. Welcome to the podcast, Emily. 

Emily Heitman: 

Thanks, Goldy. It’s nice to be here. 

Goldy Hyder : 

All right, I’m going to be honest with you. Every time I think people think Schneider, they think hot dogs. You’re not the hot dog company, right? 

Emily Heitman : 

No, we are not in the business of making hot dogs, sausages or anything like that. We’re in the business of energy, as you said earlier. 

Goldy Hyder : 

Well, they probably help make the hot dogs when you think about it. 

Emily Heitman : 

There’s probably our electrical equipment inside those factories that make those hot dogs. 

Goldy Hyder : 

All right, well, let’s educate our audience right there and then. So what exactly is Schneider Electric? What does the company do? 

Emily Heitman : 

Well, to your point, a lot of people may not know much about Schneider Electric. We’re a global leader in energy management and automation. We’re headquartered in France, listed on the Paris Stock Exchange. Our equipment and digital solutions power homes, buildings and industries across Canada. We like to say we don’t produce energy, we help people use energy smarter. It’s our devices and software that give real-time insights to help better monitor, manage and automate electricity. So whether you’re a homeowner, a business owner, or really anyone with a power bill, you’ve most likely interacted with our devices. We make everything from electrical equipment to connected software. So a basic example would be, while you probably never look to see the brand name, there’s a pretty good chance you could find our Schneider electrical panel in your home. 

Goldy Hyder : 

Well, I’m sure people are looking it up right now. As you mentioned, Emily, Schneider is a global company headquartered in France, and I understand that you wanted to be in Canada, you’re an American. We’re going to talk a little bit about that as you can imagine these days. But you’re an American and you said to yourself, “You know what I really want to do is I want to be in Canada.” Tell me why you said that. 

 

Emily Heitman : 

Well, I think there’s enormous potential in Canada. I have always loved the culture of Canada. There’s so much passion for the land, the sports, their people. It is true as an American, we love to talk about how Canadians are very polite, but one thing I do tell my American colleagues is do not confuse polite for passive and if you disagree with me, watch a hockey game and see the fire on that ice. So I really, I get the pleasure to work alongside these Canadian colleagues every single day and do some pretty big thanks. I’m really excited to be here and I think it’s a really good moment in time as well. 

 

Goldy Hyder : 

Well, you raised it so I’m going to go down this path, we’re having a few issues, shall we call it, with what’s taking place with our trade relationship. I’m wondering how you as an American in Canada running the Canadian operations are able to navigate that, what has to be somewhat of a conflict of interest in your head, right? Because you’re an American, you’re running a Canadian company, you care probably about both countries. You want us to do well together. How do you feel about where we are and how hopeful are you about the future? 

 

Emily Heitman : 

I wake up every day thinking about business. I want to take care of our Canadian customers and what’s good for business is innovation. It is local manufacturing. It’s managing supply chain effectively. So if we can solve for that, we can work across the borders as well as we can, but most importantly, we try every day to make sure that we’re taking care of our Canadian customers and that’s where my mind is at today. 

Emily Heitman : 

The one thing I have been saying at different places around, if I’ve been at different speaking events, I’ve said, “I’m not running for office. I’m not in Ottawa and I’m not in DC, but the business community has the responsibility to move the economy forward.” And this to me is where we have power, literally power to impact the available power to grow investment here in this country. I really am passionate about this. This is truly why I want to stay, because I didn’t come here just to check a box. I came here to make a difference. That’s why I took the job. 

Goldy Hyder : 

And I would say that applies to pretty much everybody in the business Council of Canada, the CEOs and the team. So we’re grateful for that. 

Goldy Hyder : 

One of the things about global companies of course is when risk capital gets allocated, they assess the markets in which they’re going to be making the investments, not just for that innovation to happen but for growth to happen in terms of market share and sales and so forth. I’m wondering, given you are, quote, unquote, comes from a way, how do you feel Canada stacks up compared to other countries around the world inside Schneider Electric, but even more broadly, what do you hear about Canada when you’re talking to people? 

 

Emily Heitman : 

I would say that there is a real interest in investment in Canada. When you’re in the business of energy, you’re working on any opportunity where there’s investment in the country because where you’re building a new building, you need power. We’re in the middle of all investments that we see coming in, particularly in the infrastructure space. Where I think Canada stacks up against other countries and has an opportunity for improvement is around power availability. We are turning away investments every day today because of capacity of power. If I compare this country to the U.S., one of the things that you can see is that the U.S. does not currently have a constraint on their power supply that is stopping and inhibiting investments. And that’s something that to me, I want to make an impact on while I’m here. I really feel like there’s an opportunity for us to both expand the supply and go after that supply demand equation when it comes to energy. 

Goldy Hyder : 

So what’s in the way? What do we have to do to make that happen so that investment can come into our country and jobs can be created? 

Emily Heitman : 

Look, I think this is a conversation we’re not having enough of in Canada. We know we have a shortage of power in the country, yet we’re wasting 50% of the power we produce. Think about that. 

Goldy Hyder : 

Say more about that. How are we doing that? 

Emily Heitman : 

So this is literally a supply and demand equation. Many don’t realize, as I said earlier, that we’re turning away investment because of lack of power. Despite all the investments from the utilities, the speed to expand capacity is the biggest challenge. We need more power and we need it now. So here’s an example. There are data centers who were planning on investing in new builds in Canada this year, but are now going back to the US to build because they can’t get allocated power from the Canadian utilities. Anyone in the construction industry here can tell you similar stories. We have to solve for the power capacity problem in the country, but I would argue that energy efficiency is a major part of the demand equation and we’re not talking about it enough. So yes, the utilities are expanding production, but we as electrical consumers can reduce our consumption and I can give you a couple of examples of how we waste energy. 

Goldy Hyder : 

Yeah, please do. 

Emily Heitman : 

Lights on in a hospital where nobody’s there, it’s a machine idling in a factory in the middle of the night, it’s an HVAC system running full blast in an empty stadium. When we tackle not just the demand but the supply equation, we can combine digital technology with the electrical equipment in your home, your building, your industry. Now we have the ability to harness energy usage, optimize it, and reduce energy consumption, making more available power for investment in the country. 

Goldy Hyder : 

So it sounds like there’s sort of two sides to this coin, right? There’s one, the production and the other side of course is the energy efficiency piece. Let’s first unpack the production piece a bit because it sounds again like is there a regulatory problem here? Are we in our own way? Why is it that we’re having this issue around production? 

Emily Heitman : 

Part of it is we have a limited supply. We have utilities who have identified that they do need to make investments, but it’s time and speed to putting those new nuclear reactors online, to putting new hydroelectric dams in place. They take anywhere from 5 to 10 years. Even some of the latest technology that we’re seeing that we are excited about, the small nuclear reactors, the speed to market that’s so impressive with them still closer to three years, which is why to us at Schneider Electric we’re saying, “Let’s not just talk about the supply part of the equation because that is coming online. We’re making those investments and not only that, we’re seeing the utilities starting to make the investments in their grid modernization. We’re seeing the regulatory actions happening between the provinces and the federal government, but it’s the speed, and so if we can go after that demand side of the equation and talk about energy efficiency, that’s where we think we have a play to go ahead and alleviate some of the constraint and make power available now for investment.” 

Goldy Hyder: 

Yeah, I mean 50% is a huge number if you’re telling me that is being wasted. 

Emily Heitman : 

It is. Part of it is because of the size of the country, the distance that electricity has to travel. We don’t have the weather in the winter, so we run a lot of our HVAC systems full blast in the winter and the summer. So we are a big consumer of power and then some of the new technologies that are in the country require more and more electricity. I think that’s where, to me, Canada has a unique opportunity to start talking about the available technology and using it in this equation to solve for it. 

Goldy Hyder : 

Do you feel there’s enough public communications on this, the importance of energy efficiency and saving? I mean obviously everybody’s aware of the light bulb changes and the usual things that were out there, but I was stunned to read that 50% of my energy is actually being wasted. 

Emily Heitman : 

The biggest loss, it’s more on the commercial and industrial space. There is energy waste in homes. The bigger ones are probably more in the commercial industrial side. You are seeing regulations that could be helpful like for instance in Vancouver, there’s a new bylaw out in the last 12 months in which commercial buildings have to report their carbon emissions. A lot of times what we tend to say is that do we have the luxury to focus on sustainability given all the economic concerns surrounding us? 

 

When you actually get the digital technology in place to give visibility to electrical usage, you have the information to be able to make choices and start to reduce some of those inefficiencies. The technology is available. Electricity has been around for a long time. It’s old technology. I think the first power plant in Canada was built in 1881. Canada’s first transmission lines were built into the 1900s, the early 1900s. We, Schneider Electric, we’ve been building electrical equipment for over a hundred years now, but with digital innovation and AI, we can really create a world where we optimize energy usage in ways we never could have imagined. 

Goldy Hyder: 

Let’s talk a little bit about your career journey. First of all, you said some very nice things about Canada. You love being here. You say Toronto is a safer New York and cleaner New York, you’re learning French, you’re really committed to being here. You talked about Canada having a different approach to sort of that melting pot mosaic model of multiculturalism and stuff. I mean, has all of this come to be true? How are you feeling about where you are and how you feel about Canada and Canadians at a time like this? 

Emily Heitman : 

I think that Canadians are continuing to innovate and I think we are at to our earlier conversation, a bit of a crossroads when it comes to the future of energy in Canada. What I’ve been excited to see is the investments across the industry, the various industries in this space. I’ll give you a great example. A Vancouver airport, Schneider Electric has partnered with YVR to upgrade their electrical infrastructure with digital technology. They have the end goal of becoming the first airport to reach net-zero in Canada by 2030, but they’ve astutely understood that the key role energy efficiency plays in this equation is critical. So just like I was talking about earlier around energy waste, HVAC systems running in a vacant wing of the airport at four, another waste there. I have sometimes said, “Hey, sustainability is still in fashion up here in Canada.” The one thing that I see businesses and the industry starting to really understand is that sustainability isn’t just an altruistic effort for us to go and achieve. 

 

YVR, for example, has already seen reductions in their operating costs and their maintenance fees. I like to say what’s good for the planet is good for your pocketbook and when it comes to living in Canada right now, I think we have the viewpoint of saying, “Let’s be efficient. Let’s put the investments in our electrical infrastructure.” I have applied for my PR. I don’t think a work permit is going to have me here long enough to be able to start making that impact in the future of energy. And so for me, I’m extremely passionate about this conversation and I’d love to make a difference in the future of not just the sustainability of Canada but also the economy. 

Goldy Hyder : 

Well, thank you for that and we’re certainly welcome. One of the things I’ve learned on this podcast from fellow CEOs is doing good or doing the right thing is always good business and so good for you for continuing that. Let me talk a little bit about how you end up at a place like this. You’ve got two other sisters or more than that? 

Emily Heitman : 

Two sisters. 

Goldy Hyder : 

Two more sisters. So as a father of three daughters, I’m saying to you that, I mean, I think it was your mom who actually said to you in your early on, effectively, there’s nothing standing in the way from you being able to do whatever you want it to do, to be whatever you want it to be. Is this what you want it to be? 

Emily Heitman : 

Actually, I think early in my career I thought I was going to be an architect. I’ve always liked design. 

Goldy Hyder: 

I wanted to be a pilot just so you know. But that didn’t work out. 

Emily Heitman : 

I knew I always liked design. I really liked math and science as a kid. I used speaking to my mom. I couldn’t even get dolls until I would do some of my math equations. I remember this distinctly as a kid, it was summertime and I couldn’t go out and play. It was really important to my parents that I had choices in life, especially having three daughters, they were very, very clear that I’d say I walked away with three big lessons growing up. I always say they taught me to dream big, do not fear and work hard. I say dream big because my mom always told me, both of my parents, you can be anything you want and I believed it. I’m telling you parents, when you tell your kids things when they are young, they become the fundamental beliefs for the rest of their lives. 

 

I’ve never been limited in what I thought I could be. Did I think I was going to be the CEO of Schneider Canada? Maybe I didn’t know that specifically. Honestly, I couldn’t be more thrilled with where I am. And then I’d say the other thing that they taught me was be an Air Force brat and moving around as a kid is be fearless. Do not fear. We were always scared every time we had to pick up and move, but we did it anyways and we grew from it. We made new friends and we were always better for it. And here I am picking up and moving as an adult myself and always being appreciative for the opportunity. 

Goldy Hyder : 

Well, it’s a great story and I wanted to make sure people heard that because today we should be doing exactly those things that you said. It is the dreaming big, it is the hard work and it is in many ways what you’ve become as a leader, particularly running a company where innovation is so important. And I want to talk a little bit about the innovation piece. Lots is being said about digital innovation and obviously the role of AI. Are we at the early days here? What’s this going to look like as we go forward? Obviously it’s going to be tremendous demand for energy. Are we going to be able to keep up with it all? 

Emily Heitman : 

I think digital software and now AI are currently where we need them to be able to be in order to tap into improving the energy efficiency. It’s continuing to evolve every day, but the technology is there to create a world where we do optimize energy usage in ways we never could have imagined. With AI this allows for incredibly effective, real-time monitoring, managing and optimization. It’s one thing to know where your energy waste is. It’s another thing to remotely manage, to automate and to automatically optimize its usage. 

 

This is where we start making not just incremental but more exponential changes when it comes to energy waste and free up this energy. I think about can we afford not to make this investment as a Canadian economy? I’d say no. We’re so busy talking about the supply side of the equation, but we’re not talking enough about that demand side. And when it comes to the part energy efficiency plays in the sustainability equation, the key to unlocking that savings and that reduction is in digital and AI. 

Goldy Hyder : 

Are we having the right conversation because for so long the oxygen was consumed by all the commitments to 2030 and 2050 and companies not even knowing how they’re going to get there said, “Sure, we’ll do it.” But are we having the right conversations in Canada about the and nature versus the or nature of the supply of energy that there’s so much of this was against fossil fuels? Well, I’m assuming we’re going to need a lot of things to power our country, especially because of what you said, second-largest landmass in the world. 

Emily Heitman : 

I think you asked me what’s different about the US and Canada. One of the most amazing thing we have are our natural resources. 80% of Canadians have access to clean energy between hydroelectric dams and nuclear power. So we have a lot of natural resources and the investments that are being made are going to bring that capacity up. At the same time, while power shortage is not significantly a bottleneck in the US, Canada probably has the most potential between natural resources, skilled talent, innovation. I’m seeing some that are really interesting. And then we’re also seeing the advent of microgrids where the speed to market or the speed to deployment of generation can happen even quicker on site. What we’re calling the advent of the prosumer, a produce and consumer of energy that allows communities and businesses to generate store and manage their own energy. So these technologies can both boost resilience but also help with the sustainability mission. That’s where I think Canada could be a showcase for how sustainability is first and foremost an economic conversation and also an environment booster. 

Goldy Hyder : 

Is there a technology that’s emerging or we may or may not have still heard about because I’d heard many people say, “Look, all the things we’re planning today, if we did all of those things, we probably still only get our emissions down 50% in the world and that there’s still this other 50% where we’re banking counting on more innovation to do it?” What is it out there that you see as an exciting promise for emerging technology? 

Emily Heitman : 

Probably one of the ones we’re watching the most is if I go back to the microgrid comment I made earlier is energy battery storage. So much of the conversations we’ve had in the past about green energy have been that we couldn’t store it enough, whether it was a windmill or a solar farm or other alternative green energy sources that we needed to be able to have a longer lasting storage. So I’m really interested to see, and I’m excited to see how much more energy storage is coming out of these batteries. Also, I’m excited about small modular reactors. It’s not necessarily a new technology, but it’s advancing very quickly and its speed to deployment also solves for that energy equation as well and brings capacity onto the grid much, much faster. 

Goldy Hyder : 

Well, as we get to the close here, I read that, I’m believing what I’m reading here, but you love Canadian winter is what we’re being told. Is that true? 

Emily Heitman : 

I do.  

 

Goldy Hyder : 

You’re from Nashville. Wasn’t your last place was Nashville? 

Emily Heitman: 

Well, remember I was in Air Force kid, so I moved around. 

Goldy Hyder : 

True. 

Emily Heitman: 

But I have spent the majority of my life in the South. I find that the winters here quite lovely or as they say en français, j’ai apprécié l’hiver sauvage du Canada.I’m sure I butchered that, but my Quebecois team loves me.  

Goldy Hyder: 

You’re from Nashville. Now I’m from Alberta. So we’ll let other people judge that. 

Emily Heitman: 

But the point is, I don’t know, I’ve enjoyed embracing winter sports. I’ve enjoyed the spas around Canada and trying different things. My bucket list is very long of the many different things I’d like to do in the winter. 

Goldy Hyder : 

We may just ask you about that shortly. But I wanted to also note that not only are you passionate about hockey, but you have had Schneider now partner with the newly formed Professional Women’s Hockey League, which by the way, my girls love. They’re really exciting to watch. Tell me about that. What brought that about? 

Emily Heitman: 

We are really proud to support the PWHL. It’s a partnership. We always say it’s a partnership, not a sponsorship because it’s rooted in shared values. We believe in empowerment in performance and inclusion as a company, just as we champion innovation and equity and energy. We also support it in sports. So there’s so many parallels between sports and business. I’ve attended several PWHL games from the different teams around the country and it’s so empowering. It’s so great to see examples of teamwork, leadership, strategy on the ice. I mean, we could do a whole podcast on that alone. 

Goldy Hyder : 

Well, speaking of energy, there’s a lot of that on the ice. 

Emily Heitman : 

There certainly is. Honestly, for this partnership, it’s all about celebrating excellence and inspiring the next generation. 

Goldy Hyder : 

Well, thank you for that sponsorship. I know it’s important. I think the league’s off to a great start. We have this tradition where we conclude our podcast with some rapid fire questions. So I’m just going to… This is probably the tougher part of the interview if you don’t mind, but you raised it. So let’s just start off right there. Tell me an item on your bucket list. 

Emily Heitman : 

I want a dog sled in the North of Manitoba. 

Goldy Hyder : 

We can arrange that actually. I think we can make that happen. Good. That’s a good one. That’s very unique. You mentioned sports and so forth that do you have a favorite sport? 

Emily Heitman : 

Well, my favorite sport is actually the PWHL, I have to say that. Plus I’m excited about the new WNBA team coming to Toronto next year. 

Goldy Hyder: 

That’s good. That’s going to be exciting too. I forgot what their name is. Do you know what their name is? Toronto- 

Emily Heitman: 

Tempo. The Toronto Tempo. 

Goldy Hyder : 

Oh, okay. Good for you. Yeah, my daughter told me all about them. Everybody’s looking forward to that. Now, when your friends or family do come to visit you in Toronto, have you found a place in the city where you say, “You’ve got to go see this?” 

Emily Heitman: 

I always take them along the lake. I get energy from water, so I always go walking along Lake Ontario. And then the other is I love to explore the distillery district. 

Goldy Hyder : 

Leafs, Jays or Raptors. 

Emily Heitman : 

Oh, that’s not fair. 

Goldy Hyder : 

I forgot the soccer team’s name. I’m not from Toronto, but we could throw them in there too. 

Emily Heitman : 

I’m going to say Raptors. I’m a basketball person. 

Goldy Hyder : 

All right, that’s a good one. Is there a favorite part of Canada that you’ve… I know you want to go to northern Manitoba, but is there anywhere in the country you’ve been that you say, “I love this place.” 

Emily Heitman : 

I love every place. Goldy, I can’t choose. 

Goldy Hyder: 

Are you running for office anytime soon, Emily? There’s only one right answer and it’s probably like Banff or something. 

Emily Heitman: 

I have loved every place. I can’t choose. 

Goldy Hyder: 

All right, fine. But this one you have to choose, favorite food. 

Emily Heitman: 

Poutine. I really love poutine. 

Goldy Hyder: 

So did you ever have poutine before you came to Canada? 

Emily Heitman: 

I had, but I didn’t know where to go. So I have some insiders that shared with me better restaurants to go get it at. 

Goldy Hyder: 

You’ve taken up painting. Why have you done that and what do you like about it? 

Emily Heitman: 

These are big jobs we have, Goldy. We have to invest in our emotional health, not just our mental health. So I paint to de-stress. It’s cathartic. I can’t be on my phone and I’m very, very concentrated on something very quiet and I have found it’s been just relieving for me. 

Goldy Hyder: 

Yeah, that’s why I golf for me. 

Emily Heitman: 

Yeah, I love it. 

Goldy Hyder: 

Is there somebody you look up to or looked up to that has helped you become who you are? 

Emily Heitman : 

I would say my dad, his work ethic as an Air Force officer throughout all those years, I find myself taking after him and I realized the value of hard work. It’s him. He’s the guy I would call early career. When you take your first management role and you need to handle some situation. 

Goldy Hyder : 

I’m pretty sure as people listen to this podcast, there’s going to be somebody out there who’s going to be looking up to you. Thank you for joining us today. Thank you for what you’re doing and thank you for sharing. We appreciate it. 

Emily Heitman: 

It was my pleasure. Thanks for inviting me. 

Goldy Hyder: 

Emily Heitman is the country president of Schneider Electric Canada. Speaking of Business is a production of the Business Council of Canada. If you like what you hear, please subscribe or follow us and leave us a review. We would love to hear from you. You can find us anywhere you get your podcast or go to our website at thebusinesscouncil.ca/podcast. And yes, it’s the Business Council. Our thanks to Will McIntyre and Richard Villeneuve of Pop Up Podcasting for their production help on this episode. Until next time, I’m Goldy Hyder. Thanks for joining us.