Lisa Jones

This is not at all what I pictured doing when I was in school. I went through different phases of what I wanted to be when I grew up. Some that I considered were lawyer, therapist, marine biologist, astronaut, and physics teacher.  I landed on engineering because it seemed like it would open a lot of doors for me.

I started in Reactor Safety Engineering. In this job I did assessments to ensure nothing impacted the safety of the plant. I didn't love working by myself or doing this kind of analysis. About 7 years later I was told about a job opening as a Root Cause Investigator. It was the best! When an event happened, such as equipment failure or if someone made a mistake, I dug into what happened. It was my job to find all the things that led to that event. It was fascinating and I learned a ton about the station, people, leadership and how to problem-solve effectively. I used my technical skills, but I also got to work with people and try to better understand people. This helped me realize my passion wasn't numbers.

I went from there into Operations, then Human Performance Manager. In my first manager role I helped the station plan to prevent errors, understand why errors happened, and increase the overall performance of the workers. I also started getting involved in leadership development. When the role I am in now opened up, it was a natural next-step.

I don't know where I will go next. I have some things I am interested in but try to be flexible. I have mentors at work who influence me, as well as some close friends and colleagues. My father worked at the nuclear power plant and I always said I wouldn't follow in his footsteps. I honestly didn't know how to find or apply to jobs, but that was something I knew. He helped me get my first summer job at a consulting company that worked with Ontario Power Generation. Then I got a job the next summer at OPG. I'm lucky it worked out so well.

I have faced many challenges being a woman in a male-dominated workplace. I have overcome this by constantly showing my value through my results. I also have created groups for women to support, mentor and develop one another. I'm very passionate about women in STEM and leadership, and love supporting and helping other women!