Shawne Walthall: (Operations Manager)

Early Life:  Shawne L. Walthall grew up in the metro Detroit area. She began her working journey at the age of 14 where her first job was at the City of Detroit’s Summer youth program in 1984.  

Education:  Shawne graduated from Henry ford High School in 1987.  She would later obtain Degree in Business Administration in 2005 from Davenport University in Dearborn, MI.  

DTE:  Throughout her journey, Shawne secured her long-term job at Detroit Edison now DTE in 1998, the largest utility company in Michigan where she has worked for 25 years.  After several promotions over the years starting as a Customer Service rep to Senior field Service Rep, Work Planner Coordinator, Operations Resource Coordinator then to both a Resource and General Supervisor an Operation Manager within System Operations Electric Dispatch and currently Operations Manager for Electric Field Operations group.  She has supervised and lead restoration plans for small to large catastrophic customer outages up to 800 thousand plus customers power outages.

Safety Lead:   In conjunction while working, Shawne is an active safety representative for DTE and holds the role of Chairperson for the National Safety Council’s-(NSC) Women Division as well as a NSC Delegate.   In the Chairperson role at the NSC, Shawne has chaired the Awards and Recognition subcommittee, has moderated the “Mobile Workforce” panel, interviewed for tow Safety +Health articles, including a feature on Eula Bingham and “Women and Safety Leadership:  A Cultural Shift.”   

Volunteerism: Shawne is an advocate volunteer for several organizations such as Operation Good Cheer, City of Detroit’s Project Search, Nurses Guild of New Hope Church-Wayne and has worked with the City of Detroit to coordinate DTE’s support to the community in the “Ride for Skylar” – 1st child Covid Victim in April of 2020.   

Technology Star: In Shawne’s current role as an Operations Manager she has a large impact to internal/external customers.  The role calls for a leader with a large array of skill-sets.  Tasks associated include:

·       Lead operational Field Coordination Center dispatch team

·       Leading/pre-flighting Electric outage storm events

·       Utilizing/sharing Power Bi dashboards to monitor/track outage and safety events

·       Monitor/use outage management system to drive restoration

·       Develop and manage work group of 60 plus employees

·       Supports multiple regional conference calls with cross-functional DTE Electric Teams daily

·       Managing business budget of O&M and Capital workload cost

·       Responsible for staffing needs of hiring, training and developing front line employees

Family life:  Lastly, Shawne says her greatest accomplishment is her love for family, friends and co-workers as she was showcased in Crain’s Detroit Business Newsletter as one of DTE’s 1st employee sequestered to keep power on during the COVId-19 Pandemic while being away from her three daughters to ensure the continuity and safety of the electric system, employee and customers supports.