MBN USA

March 14, 2024

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Spicer is director of Oncor’s strategic sourcing and procurement

When Jacqui Spicer joined Oncor Electric Delivery Co. LLC full time in 2010, she already had three years of experience with the company, having interned there since her junior year of college while pursuing a degree in electrical engineering. From the beginning, she knew that she wanted to have a long-time career at Oncor, the largest energy delivery operator in Texas.

Over 16 years later, Spicer has succeeded in building a comprehensive portfolio of experience through positions in both transmission and distribution engineering and operations. She continues to grow and develop in the company as she steps into her latest leadership role as the director of Oncor’s strategic sourcing and procurement. It is, she said, a position that meaningfully brings together her varied experience to ensure the Dallas-based business has the supplies and materials needed to achieve its objectives.

“My plan when I started at Oncor was always to do everything I could to make myself a well-rounded, utility player, and I set out wanting this to be my home,” Spicer said. “In this new role, one of my goals is to further tailor our sourcing processes to continue improving on how we meet the needs of operations and engineering business units. I feel like I have built connections that will help strengthen the relationships we have with other business units.”

These relationships are especially important as Oncor is experiencing a time of significant growth, marked by increased electrification and resiliency efforts. The initiatives represent wider trends in the utility industry that will transform how business is conducted, according to Spicer.

As Texas continues to grow and more residents and businesses move to the area, Spicer’s team helps meet the needs of customers by supporting the Oncor teams working to enhance or build new infrastructure, including bigger lines and larger facilities. To support this growth and the increased focus on overall grid resiliency, long-term supplier relationships play a key role.

“We have to look at how we are going to meet the needs of the company in 2024, as well as for the next several years,” Spicer said. “To maximize our ability to scale up, we are trying to position ourselves with our suppliers to have more partnerships and less transactions. You get to a certain scale, and you need partners who are mutually benefiting from the relationship.”

While Spicer has built strong relationships inside Oncor throughout her tenure, one aspect of the new role that is particularly exciting for her is establishing and cultivating these critical external partnerships. This includes Oncor’s focus on diverse suppliers.

“I have known for the vast majority of my 16 years at Oncor that supplier diversity is important to us,” she said. “Even as a young engineer when I was involved with purchasing decisions, the importance of diverse suppliers was stressed and that has stuck with me.”

Spicer is looking forward to working with her team in being intentional in building a diverse supply chain and ensuring their partners also benefit from Oncor’s growth. Initiatives such as mentorship opportunities and creating more awareness among business units to the suppliers available will propel both Oncor and its minority-owned partners forward.

As these new responsibilities show, even with her extensive experience with the company, Spicer is still learning areas of the business, which she says aligns well with her collaborative leadership stye. Her sourcing and procurement team is comprised of about 25 people – and growing – and learning their strengths and expertise is key to success. “In most of my leadership roles, I have not been the subject matter expert, so I have learned to lean on the skills and knowledge of the group members, and I really enjoy that.”

As Spicer prepares to lead the sourcing and procurement group through this time of transformation in the industry, these opportunities for growth and development are just some of the reasons she continues to be proud to call Oncor her professional home.

“Utility is the kind of place that offers the perfect combination of challenge, a little bit of risk and purpose,” Spicer said. “We serve four million customers with an absolutely crucial product, and you can’t find a greater purpose than that.”

To learn more about oncor, visit oncor.com.

To view or download full article in MBN Texas, please click here.