How has the Women's Utilities Network mentoring event at Future Utilities grown over the years?
The growth has been dramatic. Two years ago, the Women's Utilities Network event at the Future Utilities conference amounted to just half a dozen to a dozen mentors and a handful of mentees gathered in the reception area. Today, well over 100 women and allies attend — networking, supporting one another, and embodying exactly what the network was created to do.
Karen Anderson, Executive Director of the Women's Utilities Network, describes this transformation as the crux of what the organisation stands for: bringing women and allies together across the utilities sector. The network itself was founded in 2018 by five influential women who regularly found themselves as the only female in the room. Eight years on, the scale of community it has built is visible in moments like this — a room where a small cluster of mentors has multiplied tenfold. You can hear the full conversation on The Future of Utilities Podcast on Listenly.
The event also reflects the momentum behind the One Mentoring Programme, which has produced multiple award-winning mentors — including Sophia Goring of Business Stream (Mentor of the Year 2024) and Naz Khanon of Lane's Group (Mentor of the Year 2025). What began as a quiet gathering in a reception area has become a flagship moment of connection for the utilities industry.
"Today, I think it was well over 100 women and allies stood together, networking, supporting one another. That's really the crux of what the Women's Utilities Network is there for."
— Karen Anderson, Executive Director, Women's Utilities NetworkAbout Karen Anderson
Karen Anderson
Executive Director · Women's Utilities Network
Karen Anderson has served as Executive Director of the Women's Utilities Network for just over two years, leading an organisation that has been a driving force for gender diversity across the utilities sector since its founding in 2018. In her role, Anderson is responsible for steering a network that was built by and for women who were often the sole female voice in the rooms they occupied professionally. Her work focuses on creating structured opportunities — such as the One Mentoring Programme — for women and their allies to connect, develop, and advance. Anderson is a visible presence at key industry gatherings, including the Future Utilities conference, where she engages directly with large, growing audiences on the people agenda in utilities. The scale of the mentoring event she has helped shape — from a dozen participants to over 100 in the space of two years — is a direct measure of her organisation's reach and impact.
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The Women's Utilities Network was formed in 2018 by five influential women in the utilities sector who realised they were often the only females in the room, and felt passionately about the impact that increasing gender diversity within utilities could have.