As Vice President of Distribution Operations in the Chicago and Southern Region, Owens oversees the overall operations within both ComEd’s Chicago and South region, including distribution operations, grid construction, grid maintenance, work management and distribution field technical operations. The territory includes the entire City of Chicago, its two airports, ComEd’s Maywood region, which includes several suburban towns such as Maywood, Cicero, Northlake, Joliet, University Park, Pontiac, Bradly and Streator among other highly populated areas which represents more than 68% of the distribution customer base.

Owens has been in the utility industry for more than 25 years. She has held various positions throughout her career at ComEd in Marketing, Quality Assessment/Assurance, Emergency Response (in Chicago and Philadelphia) including the Office of the President and COO. She transitioned to the Manager, of Technical Services in Engineering where she had responsibilities for Distribution Mapping and Records, Quality Assurance and Control, Regulatory Performance & Reporting and Distribution Work Strategy. She acquired Construction and Operational experience as the Manager of Chicago Electric Operations where she led a team of nearly 100 employees responsible for the safe & productive execution of emergency response, system configuration, construction & maintenance of the electrical grid including ComEd’s smart grid and grid modernization programs. Prior to her role as the Vice President of Distribution Operations she was the Vice President of Customer Channels responsible for extensive technology investments into web-based and digital platforms including social media channels, facilitate one of the largest utility financial advocacy portfolios and help shape the future direction of ComEd’s premier customer experience journey.

Nichole has a B.S. from University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff and an MBA from DePaul University with a Finance concentration in Finance/Financial Management control.