🔒Women in power: The leaders shaping Maine’s energy future

Maine’s utility industry is balancing a number of priorities, including maintaining affordable electricity rates while preparing the power grid for increased demand.

Helping lead that effort are Central Maine Power President and CEO Linda Ball and Versant Power President Erica Young.

While their career paths differ, the leaders oversee companies that provide electricity to roughly 1 million Mainers. In an industry that has historically been dominated by men, Ball and Young are shaping the future of energy in Maine while navigating the unique challenges of serving a largely rural state.

The power of listening

Linda Ball became president and CEO of Central Maine Power in 2025, but her journey in the utility industry began nearly 30 years ago as an entry-level customer service representative at CMP’s sister company, New York State Electric and Gas.

Rising through the ranks, Ball now leads Maine’s largest electric utility, serving more than 670,000 customers across 346 communities in central and southern Maine.

With more than three decades in the industry, one lesson has remained constant, Ball says.

“I think one of the biggest lessons I’ve learned is the importance of listening,” Ball says. “Whether that’s to employees here in the organization because they’re really the experts on the grid or listening to customers and what they need or to the communities we serve.”

Ball is the second woman to lead CMP, following Sara Burns, who served as president beginning in 1998, became CEO in 2005 and retired in 2017.

While Ball recognizes the importance of representation, she views being a woman leader as just one part of who she is. Her focus remains on ensuring CMP can safely and dependably serve communities.

Ball points to technologies such as covered tree wire and automatic reclosers as examples of how utilities are improving reliability, particularly in Maine’s heavily forested and rural communities. Covered tree wire helps prevent outages caused by tree contact, while automatic reclosers allow operators to remotely reroute electricity around damaged sections of the grid. Customers can have power restored within minutes through alternate circuits while crews are dispatched to assess the damage and make repairs safely.

“We had an outage last winter and more than 7,000 customers lost power all at the same time in a storm,” Ball says. “They had their power back on in three and a half minutes because operators in Augusta were able to see the grid, see the problem happen and flip a switch and detour power around that damaged section and restore power in three and a half minutes. That’s pretty amazing technology that didn’t exist years ago.”

As the industry evolves, Ball is focused on developing the workforce needed to support the grid of the future. Through high school apprenticeship programs and other educational partnerships, CMP is introducing students to careers in the utility industry and helping build the next generation of skilled workers.

Ultimately, her goal as a leader is to leave behind a stronger electric grid, a skilled workforce and more opportunities for Mainers to live and work in the state. That vision reflects her commitment to serving the customers and communities that depend on CMP every day.

“Every house that I see with lights, every business that I see with lights, every traffic light or streetlight that I go under, that’s CMP’s responsibility,” she says.

Connections across borders

When Erica Young became president of Versant Power in May 2026, she took the helm of a utility serving more than 165,000 residential and business customers across northern and eastern Maine.

Versant is owned by Calgary-based ENMAX Corp., whose utility and energy businesses serve more than 1.2 million electric and natural gas customers in Alberta, Canada. Before relocating to Maine, Young served as executive vice president of ENMAX Energy and previously chief legal, commercial and regulatory officer, bringing decades of utility leadership experience to her new role. As president of Versant, she reports to Mark Poweska, ENMAX board chair, president and CEO.

Young’s path to the utility industry began as a lawyer in Toronto. While working on electricity sector transactions during a period of deregulation in Ontario, she became interested in the complex systems that keep power flowing to homes and businesses.

“I just found it fascinating that electricity is such a lifeline service for people,” Young says. “There’s obviously a technology and a physics piece behind it, but there’s so much that goes into how you get it delivered to people.”

That interest eventually led her into renewable energy development, including wind energy projects in Montana and a transmission line connecting Alberta and the United States. The experience demonstrated the power of collaboration between countries since the electric grid transcends state or national borders.

“The grid just operates almost irrespective of borders,” Young says. “And it’s a very integrated system that is probably the most sophisticated machine in the world.”

Young notes that the Canadian and American electric systems are connected through dozens of transmission interconnections that allow electricity to move where it is needed and help utilities support one another during emergencies. That broader perspective has proven valuable as she leads Versant.

Growing up near the U.S. border in northwestern Ontario, Young regularly visited Minnesota and Wisconsin with her family, making Maine feel familiar long before she moved here.

As president of Versant Power, Young is focused on helping the utility balance reliability, affordability and the state’s long-term energy goals. One example she described is advanced metering infrastructure which gives customers more information about their energy use.

Young also hopes her career demonstrates what is possible for future generations of women entering the workforce. Growing up with brothers, she says her parents never treated her differently because she was a girl.

“I didn’t really grow up thinking that there was something I couldn’t do because I was female,” she says.

That experience shaped her approach to leadership and mentorship. Throughout her career, Young has worked to support women and others who may not see themselves in leadership roles. While she notes there are still more men than women leading utilities, she sees a growing number of women rising through the industry, including in executive roles across both the United States and Canada.

As Maine’s energy needs evolve, Young says her focus remains on maintaining a grid that provides consistency for the homes it powers.

“I’m really excited to be here at this time with the team, working with the state on its ambitious goals and trying to make sure that we balance all of the real concerns and come up with the best solutions for customers,” she says.