Podcast
Serving customers through purpose driven technology
- Pariveda CEO Margaret Rogers sits down with Joel Austin, Senior Vice President and Chief Digital Officer at Oncor Electric Delivery, a regulated transmission and distribution utility company in Texas. Joel leads technology, analytics, and customer engagement that supports more than 13 million Texans who rely on the grid every day.
About the episode
In this conversation, Joel shares how he leads through disruption, including mergers, outsourcing, and major industry change, while keeping technology teams connected to real customer impact. He explains what he calls the “accountability gene,” why it drives results, and how leaders spot it, support it, and build teams around it. You will also hear Joel’s perspective on legacy, talent development through internships, and why innovation, including AI, has to be guided by trust, safety, and responsibility when the work quite literally keeps the lights on.
You’ll learn
-
How to evaluate new technology by starting with the customer problem it should solve
-
What it takes to rebuild trust and belief inside teams during disruption
-
What the “accountability gene” looks like in practice, and how leaders nurture it
-
How to keep IT teams inspired by real-world impact
-
How to think about AI in critical infrastructure through the lens of trust, safety, and responsibility
-
Why long-term talent development, including internships, strengthens future leadership
Episode outline
0:07 Introduction
1:58 Joel’s journey and “career of change”
3:16 Leading through mergers and outsourcing, and rebuilding belief
5:42 The “accountability gene” and what it looks like in practice
8:25 Bringing technology back to the customer and restoring line of sight
12:28 Culture and longevity, why people stay for decades
15:39 Sustaining purpose over the long horizon
19:15 Innovation that changes customer value
19:53 Smart metering as a watershed digitization moment and what it unlocked
24:11 How Oncor decides what tech is worth the risk
27:15 Trust, safety, and responsibility guiding AI in critical infrastructure
29:31 Talent development, internships, and championing young careers
33:29 Lightning round
38:49 Closing and key takeaways
Episode links
- Oncor Electric Delivery
Referenced books and related resources
- Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek
About the guest
Joel Austin is Senior Vice President and Chief Digital Officer at Oncor Electric Delivery. His responsibilities span technology, measurement, analytics, and customer engagement operations, with a focus on transforming how Oncor shares information with its customers at scale. He has more than 30 years of experience across technology, energy, and finance, including nearly two decades at Oncor and its former affiliated companies. He serves on educational and civic boards, including the Information Technology Operations Management Advisory Board at Southern Methodist University and the Business Council for the Arts.
About the Doing Good by Doing Better podcast
Hosted by Margaret Rogers, CEO of Pariveda, the Doing Good by Doing Better podcast highlights founders, executives, and innovators who share hard lessons, bold ideas, and real strategies for purpose-driven growth.
Every conversation offers practical insights you can use to solve forward. In each episode you’ll meet leaders who prove that being impact-driven and achieving meaningful success are not mutually exclusive.
Follow Doing Good by Doing Better on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and join us every other week as we keep learning how to do good by doing better.
INSIGHTS
Resource
