With two decades of experience in the utilities space, Gordana Andjelkovic has seen utilities evolve in various ways to support resilient operations and a low-carbon future.
As Director of Business Solutions at Hydro One, Andjelkovic maximizes the value of her company’s ASUG membership to shape Hydro One’s technology roadmap and learn about the transformative successes of other leaders across her industry.
Andjelkovic recently sat down with ASUG for a rich conversation about her wide-ranging career, education, background, and inspirations.
This conversation has been edited and condensed.
ASUG: What inspired you to pursue a master’s degree in electrical engineering?
Andjelkovic: My father played a crucial role in helping me understand my strengths and believe that I could accomplish anything I set my mind to.
When I was preparing for university, I considered studying English. I loved the English language; it excited me, growing up in Eastern Europe, where I wasn’t exposed to it daily but enjoyed learning it. I was naturally good at math and physics; my high school years were heavily focused on STEM studies. My father suggested that I focus my studies on electrical engineering, which could provide career opportunities for the future, and that I could study English in addition. I took his advice; later, I went on to pursue my master’s degree.
ASUG: What lessons shaped your approach to engineering and leadership?
Andjelkovic: I was born and raised in Sarajevo, in the middle part of the Eastern Balkans. When I was in my third year of university, war broke out in that region. I had to move from my hometown to Belgrade, where I enrolled at the University of Belgrade. That's where I finished my studies. The university is named after Nikola Tesla. I have a great picture of myself standing in front of his statue in front of the university building.
When I reflect on that experience, resilience was a key component. Displacement due to the war carried a lot of burden, especially since I had left my family. Luckily, we were reunited a few months later in another city. However, I had the support of my extended family.
In the university, I found a home, because my friends were there. They were in the same situation as me. We gathered there and continued with life as we knew it. Our acceptance to the university came from the dean of the faculty; she was a female leader in engineering, which was not common at that time. She accepted us with open arms.
The way we were accepted, the way she spoke to us and the way she led the faculty, was inspiring to me. She gave me an example of what I could become when I finished university and what type of leader I could be in my adult life.
ASUG: What else about the dean’s leadership was inspiring?
Andjelkovic: It was a challenging political situation, in the country. Since the capital of Serbia was overburdened with refugees, universities sent students to schools outside of the city. Instead of studying at the University of Belgrade, they wanted students to go to smaller universities in the middle of the country.
However, she stood up for us. She went against the political orders and told us we had a place if we wanted to stay and continue our studies until we were able to return home. That gesture meant a lot to us students. The fact she went against the regime and said, “No, I stand by you” enabled us to stay and continue our studies. That was huge. It shaped my life.
ASUG: Can you discuss how your career progressed from there?
Andjelkovic: I started my career in the Serbian telecom industry. In 1999, my husband and I moved to Canada, where I spent the first three years looking after my young family. Later, I moved into the utilities industry. I’ve been with Hydro One for over 21 years.
My career started in engineering, which gave me an opportunity to understand how the utility industry worked at a fundamental level. I realized working within such a large company offered professional advancement experiences, which I took advantage of. I then moved into field experience, where I spent time within transmission stations.
From there, I moved into asset management to understand the front side of the work: how we plan, how we decide where to invest, and how we connect that to the overall customer experience. Next, I moved to our operating technology team, which delivered a solution called the distribution management system. We delivered the ability to automatically monitor and control distribution parts of our system. That was an exciting journey.
Following that, I moved to the enterprise IT side. Going through that professional journey allowed me to understand what the business needs were and translate that into technology needs. Part of my journey was to shape the technology roadmap for our utility side of the business and implement that role.
The biggest project I was involved in was delivering our distribution design and cost estimation tool, transforming the way we deliver our distribution designs and issue customer contracts. Transforming the way distribution work is run was a multi-year project that presented many insights and challenges. It was a successful project that’s still performing today.
ASUG: What has been your approach to dealing with challenges along the way?
Andjelkovic: Possessing a high-level understanding of the business is a key component. My previous experiences, as I moved throughout the company in various roles, gave me the ability to see how the business ran end-to-end. Because of that, I can speak the language of the business. Understanding technology at a high level—including how components are connected, what works, what does not work—gives me the ability to talk to technology teams in their language at a high level, and to drive that vision.
Overall leadership involves getting the teams together: business vendors, internal IT teams, leadership, and project leaders at the board level. It’s vital to bring everybody together to communicate and share information at the right time. Being transparent about challenges and asking for support when needed is also crucial. Equally important is recognizing every success, big or small, regardless of what level of the organization it comes from, ensures that all contributions are valued. We all play a role in contributing to success. These were the main components of my approach.
ASUG: What are a few proud moments or achievements from your career thus far?
Andjelkovic: I take pride in leading and developing leaders and my team. When I see students or colleagues who worked for me excel in their careers, that makes me proud. When I see people who reported to or worked with me on projects moving up in their careers, that makes me proud. I feel I have contributed in some way to their success.
Projects come and go, and they always have an end, but investing in people, developing them, mentoring and coaching them—that’s what I find most rewarding at work.
In this context, I was one of the two founders of the Women in IT Employee Resource Group within Hydro One. It’s a very active group where we gather to talk about opportunities, challenges, and how we support each other. We discuss how to bring our points of view and be heard within the larger context of our organization and beyond. We also involve allies, including male colleagues, both inside and outside the organization, to support us and encourage women to take on technology roles.
Additionally, for over four years, I was part of what we call Women in Engineering, an engineering residence with Waterloo University. This is a program where we partner with universities in Ontario to encourage the STEM path for young girls, with outreach to high schools and primary schools. Supporting the recognition of women and our contributions to STEM has been significant for me.
ASUG: In ASUG Women Connect conversations, mentoring, allyship, and sponsorship are key topics. What does a successful mentor-mentee relationship look like?
Andjelkovic: From the perspective of mentoring, I differentiate between coaching and mentoring. For my direct reports, I spend time on coaching during our one-on-one discussions, focusing on development opportunities and acknowledging successes. Coaching is about guiding development.
Mentoring, on the other hand, involves providing feedback based on my experience and sharing my journey. It’s about connecting mentees with others in the company. Having been with the company for so many years and working in different areas, I have built a broad internal network. I support mentees by providing additional connections and opportunities, helping them understand what steps to take to advance their careers and expand their horizons. It’s not always about advancement; it’s also about broadening perspectives.
ASUG: When did you first get involved with ASUG, and how has your involvement with ASUG helped your career?
Andjelkovic: I first heard about ASUG seven years ago, through the Hydro One network, which was encouraging people to get engaged with ASUG. My involvement has been primarily through different ASUG member meetings and conferences. Those have provided additional insights into the utility space and its use of SAP.
Last year's SAP for Utilities conference in Chicago was exceptionally beneficial and influential in helping to shape the technology roadmap for Hydro One. The opportunity to talk to other partner utilities and learn how they address challenges or opportunities within the SAP technology, field services opportunities, and SAP S/4HANA upgrades was valuable. It was also an opportunity to create a beneficial network of utility partners outside of Hydro One.
As our IT department attended with our internal business department, we were able to collectively hear about the successes of other utilities and their journeys, which enabled us to collectively shape the discussion of how we internally addressed challenges and decisions we had in front of us.
ASUG: How do you maintain your professional growth and prepare yourself for future successes?
Andjelkovic: My foundational principles are integrity and trust. It is important to me that people trust me and see me as having integrity. Integrity and trust; making and meeting my commitments; providing, accepting, and acting on feedback: these are the foundations upon which I build my excellence.
So, how do I maintain them? There are multiple components.
I continue to invest in myself. Part of that means working with professional coaches who are leaders in their field. I find this investment invaluable. Throughout my career, I have sought out coaches and mentors, whether or not they were provided by the company. I would take the initiative to reach out to leaders I admired within the company for their leadership, integrity, and decision-making—the qualities I wanted to excel in throughout my career. I must say, I have never been rejected.
Additionally, I am always willing to embrace new challenges or opportunities. I am constantly evaluating where I can add value with what I have learned so far in my career, and also where I have the opportunity to learn more.
ASUG: On LinkedIn, you recently posted a TED Talk by Brittany Packnett Cunningham: “How to Build Your Confidence — and Spark It in Others.” Cunningham shared that when we think of creating change, we often believe it’s an equation that consists only of "knowledge and resources," but confidence is a necessary spark for everything that follows. What informs your confidence?
Andjelkovic: Confidence is not something that we are born with; it is something that we build.
Early in my career with Hydro One, I had a female role model who took me under her wing. She shared one of the most significant pieces of advice with me: “If you go to a meeting, you need to go with a question in mind, and you have to speak up.” The idea was that, if I am in a meeting and I don't have anything to contribute, I should not be there.
I remember—in the beginning, when putting this advice into practice—I was terrified. It takes courage to ask questions and share your viewpoints. If you continue to do so over time, it will feel more natural. The audience becomes used to hearing your voice in the room and begins to expect it.
In these scenarios, you want your voice to be clear and ensure that your message comes out decisively, not allowing emotions or fear to overtake you. Tools like the Superwoman pose or deep breathing techniques can help to alleviate fear or other emotions if they arise.
ASUG: Let’s talk about your role in the utility industry. What do you consider to be the biggest challenge facing the utility industry right now and in the future?
Andjelkovic: The biggest challenge is enabling the low-carbon future and meeting the needs of customers. Traditionally, the utilities sector is a slow-moving machine and doesn't change very quickly. However, technology and the needs of customers are rapidly changing.
We see the penetration of electric vehicles (EVs), and we see the penetration of distribution resources that are not traditional. We need to enable our utility network to be able to support that type of shift within the consumer network
Artificial intelligence (AI), as it comes along, should support and enable us better, but we need to be really careful about how we use it. We use AI in certain areas of the work to give us insights from the consumer perspective and to help us make better investment decisions.
Those are some of the challenges that I see. AI challenges are across the technology landscape, not tied to utilities only. For utilities, the key challenges are enabling a low-carbon future, enabling the new distribution resources coming onto the network, and understanding how to support our consumers with the latest technology.
ASUG: What is next for you professionally, and what advice would you give your past self as well as your future self?
Andjelkovic: What the future is going to bring, I cannot tell, but we have exciting initiatives in front of us, like getting ready for the SAP S/4HANA journey. That could shape my career over the next five years. The change in the utility industry and our digital strategy presents a lot of opportunities in that space to enable our core work to better serve our customers.
Professionally, I will continue developing and investing in myself, which benefits both me and the company overall. On a personal level, continuing to prioritize work-life balance is essential. Family, friends, community, and giving back are crucial for maintaining a healthy career and a healthy life.
For more insights from members like these, join the community at ASUG Women Connect.