How a PG&E Employee-Funded Scholarship Keeps Paying Dividends

By Tony Khing

When Jordan Costello received a scholarship from the NuEnergy Employee Resource Group in 2015, the funds paid for the Fall Quarter of her senior year at the University of California, Davis.

And that scholarship, which was fully funded through employee donations, continues to pay dividends for the graduate of San Ramon Valley High School.

Thanks to that investment, Costello became part of the Customer Energy Solutions Rotational Program to help recent college graduates find a career at PG&E. While she’s a senior case manager in Electric Operations today, one of her previous roles included launching new electric rates for electric vehicle and battery storage customers.

Jordan Costello parlayed a PG&E Employee Resource Group scholarship into a successful career with the company. (Photo by Tony Khing)

In addition, she got exposure to officers and directors while developing her leadership skills first as vice president of fundraising and now as president of the NuEnergy ERG.

“PG&E gave me opportunities to do more than what I thought I came here to do,” said Costello.

Costello learned about the ERG scholarship from Susan Norris, a family friend who’s a principal product manager in Customer Energy Solutions. “She thought I’d be a good fit because of my interest in the environment,” said Costello.

Before she received the scholarship, Costello learned about the rotational program from Vice President of Customer Energy Solutions Aaron Johnson. That opportunity got her attention and then another employee encouraged her to join the company after graduation. “I laughed, thinking it would be impossible to get my foot in the door,” she said.

But Costello impressed the right people and after graduation, she became a PG&E employee.

“I took my shot at the chance to work for a company that aligned so well with what I wanted to do my whole life,” said Costello, “making the environment a better place for the next generation.”

As Costello became entrenched within PG&E, she got involved with NuEnergy, whose mission is to engage, inspire, and develop new employees. Within her first year at PG&E, she became the ERG’s vice president of fundraising. Nearly two years later, Jordan became president.

However, Costello didn’t have any fundraising or leadership experience. “Everything about it was intimidating,” she said about being president. “I was just three years into my first job out of college. How was I supposed to lead a board of my peers, represent our more than 1,000 members and interact with the company’s senior leadership?”

The only way Costello was going to learn was through on-the-job training. “I just had to dive right in,” she said. “I find that being dropped into something without much of a safety net has been a great way to force me to dig deep and find it within me to rise the occasion. My biggest personal development at PG&E has come through my involvement with NuEnergy.”

And she’s benefited from learning about the energy business through her work.

“PG&E is constantly challenging me and showing me the knowledge I’ve gained over the past three years is just hitting the surface,” said Costello. “The innovation and adaptation needed for our state is more crucial than ever. I feel the call to be in the middle of it and believe working at PG&E gives me the best opportunity to make a difference.”

Costello is more than grateful for getting that ERG scholarship.

“Why wouldn’t you put yourself out there to get free money to help with school?” said Costello. “If a group of strangers thought I was deserving of this investment in my future, there was no excuse for me not having confidence in myself.”

PG&E is offering more than 150 college scholarships totaling nearly $500,000 to college-bound high schoolers as well as current college and continuing education students living in Northern and Central California. The awards are being made available through PG&E scholarships, which includes the company’s employee resource and engineering network groups (ERG and ENG) and Better Together STEM scholarship programs.

ERG and ENG scholarships are fully supported through employee donations. Better Together STEM scholarships are funded by shareholders.

Information is available on PG&E’s website. All scholarship applications must be received by Feb. 7.