The Impact Series : Pamela Fann, Founder of Integrated Solutions
When you sit down with Pamela Fann, you immediately feel the depth of her experience and the strength of her purpose. As the founder of Integrated Solutions, Pamela has carved out a career at the intersection of energy and diversity, always pushing for systems that are not only sustainable but also inclusive.
In this three-part series, we’ll explore her journey and insights through the lens of leadership, innovation, and equity in the energy space. Part one we discuss her background and the challenges she’s faced along the way.
MTGS - Hi Pamela, thank you for joining me. I'm excited to hear about your work in energy and your focus on diverse entrepreneurs. Can you tell me a little about your background and your journey into energy?
Pamela Fann - Thank you for having me. I'm really excited to contribute here. My background in energy is very different. I didn't start in the energy sector as a young person working for a utility, which is the story of a lot of professionals in this sector. I came from food service. I worked for the Coca Cola Company for 22 years. At that time, I had always had the plan that I would retire from Coke, and I would go work in a nonprofit, because that was something I was passionate about. That plan changed when I was laid off in 2018. When I left Coke, I started applying for jobs in nonprofit but nothing was really coming up. I found out later that a lot of nonprofits don't like to hire folks from corporate backgrounds because they think that we're all about making money, and nonprofits are all about feeling good. I ended up at Southeast Energy Efficiency Alliance (SEEA), which is a nonprofit that supports energy efficiency. It is one of the six regional Energy Efficiency offices in the US. I landed a role there as their membership manager. A really interesting fact is that I knew nothing about the energy sector going in other than how to pay a utility bill every month. One of the first things I did was I took a course on the energy sector, from transmission to what is this energy work. I started falling in love with just the idea of how these systems support everyday people and how much we don't know about it. So that was my start.
“What happens is that when you have a lack of that diversity within your systems, you don’t have representation there to advise you in the correct way.”
MTGS - You've been intentional about supporting businesses led by diverse founders. How did that focus develop, and how has it shaped your approach as you're a leader?
Pamela Fann - It developed while at SEEA. I always had this thought, once you see the lack of diversity, or you see that there's equity issues, it's hard to unsee it. Coming into the energy sector, I remember my first three conferences that I attended. The first one was within a month of my starting. It was in Washington, DC, and there were about 700 people at this conference. I recognized that I was one of two Black women there. I don't remember seeing any Black men and very few women. I could count on less than two hands how many women were present, and I could count how many people of color, on less than one hand. I thought that was weird to be in Washington, DC, which is affectionately called Chocolate City because it has a high population of diverse people, Black people in particular and not having that diversity. I went into some of the sessions about programmatic work, working on low to moderate income and multifamily homes and programs. I started thinking to myself, “That sounds like a lot of areas where there's multicultural or people of diverse backgrounds that you're talking about, but those people aren't present. So how are you solving those issues?” At the second conference I met Carla Walker-Miller, who was speaking at a woman's breakfast. We were the only Black women at this conference. I remember seeing a few more women represented, but still no people of color or other Black people there. The third conference I went to, which was in Texas, had about 200 people, and I was the only Black person there.
I went back to our executive director and asked “What's the deal with diversity here? Because I don't see anybody that looks like me at these conferences.” For a little background, my family was one of the first Black families to integrate into the town of Owosso, Oklahoma. While I am comfortable with it (being the only person of color in this space), anybody else coming into this space may not be as comfortable. My Executive Director, Mandy Mahoney, and I had a really candid conversation. She responded with,” The energy sector is a very white male industry. White male sector founded with white men.” I then thought about what I can do here in this space to make it more diverse, because I saw problems. What happens is that when you have a lack of that diversity within your systems, you don't have representation there to advise you in the correct way. I got certified as a Diversity Professional(CDP) and Diversity Trainer(CDT) . I immediately started working tackling the issue of diversity within the sector and doing it from a cultural competency framework. I built out a model and started taking our organization through it.
“Once you see the lack of diversity, or you see that there’s equity issues, it’s hard to unsee it.”
I started meeting more entrepreneurs in the sector who were having issues getting connected to tier one contract opportunities. They weren't getting as many opportunities because people didn’t know about them (their companies), and they didn't trust them. There’s this stigma that a lot of industries have, that black companies don't do as good of a job as the white companies, or women owned businesses are not as good as male owned businesses, or diverse businesses don't perform as well. This same perception comes from those employers as well, which is why we saw the lack of diverse talent within the industry. I started making it a mission of mine while at SEEA to ensure that we brought on more membership of those diverse companies, by giving them opportunities to not only display their talent and their work, but by putting them in front of utility partners and implementers. We started putting their leaders on platforms through webinars and conferences, so they could talk about their businesses and highlight them so they could get those opportunities.
When I started in this industry about eight years ago, there were only 7 or 8 minority owned businesses at that time that came forward. Now, many have come to the forefront after the passing of Justice 40 Initiative, the Inflation Reduction Act, and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. There started to become a lot more opportunities for minority owned businesses so we're seeing many more of those now.
I think that I was able to help the industry by helping to put these leaders in front of utilities and organizations to tell their stories in different ways that helped them to then be able to go out and get recognized. That's been an important focus of mine, helping both the people and the companies. To see how these organizations transform the ways that they work, in the ways that others think about minority owned businesses as well as minority and diverse employees within their organizations.
All of this led me to start Integrated Solutions. After the murders of George Floyd and Ahmaud Aubrey, the diversity and equity work that I had been doing in the sector for more than a year already became increasingly important and people sought me out. I was, at the time, one of the only people focused on DEI in energy. I worked on the Energy Equity Project out of the University of Michigan with Dr. Tony Reames and became a Jobs and Economic Development Impact (JEDI) advisor for the Department of Energy and National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). I then started advising Community Based Organizations (CBO). I have organized the Southeast Environmental Justice Summit for the last 3 years for the Harambe House/Citizens for Environmental Justice. It’s been quite successful with about 400 attendees spanning from frontline community members, federal and local government, industry, academia, and CBOs across the Southeast region.
“That is my passion work. It’s why I started my business and touches at the core of what I do and why I do it.”
MTGS - I know you've touched on this in your last question, but what do you see as the biggest challenge for diverse entrepreneurs in the energy sector and what tends to help them succeed?
Pamela Fann - The biggest challenge is garnering long term contracts. There are a lot of state requirements that have a certain minority spend. The utility may have a 30% spend on minority owned business. What that means is that if they have a large multi-year, multi-million dollar contract, they could use a diverse company for a tier one contract. Let's say they really want to work with Burns and McDonnell because they're very well known (in the construction industry), or a resource innovator like ICF International, they may then require them to use a tier two spend with a minority contractor so they can get their 30% spend that's mandated.
But for states or cities that don't have that mandate it makes it difficult. If a utility has a closed network, meaning that the tier one organization must have an insurance policy, between $2M and $5 million insurance policy for their organization, it’s a challenge. They may have to have a cyber security insurance policy. They may have to have a minimum of $5 million in contracts already secured under their belt before they're even considered to be able to apply. That takes a lot of your new, minority owned, smaller businesses out of play to be considered for contracts.
The lack of long term contracts is a problem, but the lack of the ability to even get a long term contract is an even bigger problem. You can get a tier two contract, and you can work for one of these implementers, which is good, because after a while you build up qualifications and a list of references from contractors you’ve worked with. But even still, you're only getting a certain percentage of that work. You get a $300K contract over a three year period, which is great.
But then what happens after that three year period? If you don't have another contract coming up, you're going to lose employees. They're going to have to go work for someone else and your business is not going to succeed. Let's even think about that on a smaller, condensed scale, because a $300K contract over two to three years is amazing, and most of us pray to get something like that. But that's not what happens. Many of us will get a six month to one year contract worth $150K. After six months, if we're not out there hustling to get another contract, then we lose our employees, health benefits, and that structure that we're trying to build. So, building the business becomes a lot harder, especially when you're working in the business.
Now, you've got to work in the business, because while that $100K that's a good amount, you still have to pay your overhead, for staff, marketing, and your website. You have all these expenses going out, and you still must work in the business. But then you must figure out who's going to go out and get more business? So, it's just not enough to sustain you. You need multiple multi-year contracts to build a good business within the energy sector, and if you're not bringing that in, it makes it significantly hard to scale and to grow.
That's where most of the problem comes in, there's not enough focus on getting long term, substantial contracts for minority owned businesses. Same goes for subcontractors and smaller mom and pops. If they are subcontractors that are out doing the work, they're only getting contracts as long as the construction period or they get a small, short term contract that lasts less than one year so when that contract is done, they are done. Most of the time, because they are also the ones still working, they're not going out and selling their business or looking for more contracts. If that six month contract ends, they have to let their people go. Let's say two months later, they get another contract. Now they don't have the people, so they have to work the job and think about when to get the next contract because this one's going to end in three months. It becomes this vicious cycle. So, I think a major problem in all this is contract terms and contract value, and we must start looking at minority owned businesses as viable businesses who deserve opportunities for long term contracts that will help them to scale their businesses.
In our next installment, we’ll delve into why diversity is important for innovation and growth as well as Pamela’s inspirations. We’ll meet some leaders in this space that have helped to shape not only Pamela’s experiences but set the stage for future leaders in this space.
Whether you’re an entrepreneur, a leader in sustainability, or someone passionate about shaping what comes next, Pamela’s story offers both inspiration and practical insight.
