Frank Prager

I am a lawyer by training, but I have had a variety of roles in my time at Xcel Energy.  Today, I am the company's chief sustainability officer and responsible for our clean energy and sustainability initiatives.  I am also the company's lead on strategy, focusing on carbon reduction, customer relationships, and affordability and reliability.  I am also responsible for the company's federal advocacy and governmental affairs programs, communications and cyber and physical security initiatives.

My advice to students... 

I have worked with many different kinds of leaders over my time at Xcel Energy, but the best leaders all have the same attributes in common:  they are servants to the people on their teams, helping them achieve the company's objectives and their personal goals; they set broad strategic direction for the organization then let their people do their jobs; they listen more than they talk; they are excellent communicators and use the process of writing or speaking to refine their own thinking; and they connect their teams to a broader purpose, to a cause greater than themselves.  These leadership attributes are just as valuable to a leader of a small team of peers right out of college as they are to the leader of an organization made up of thousands of people.