They’re the team members who make their colleagues feel they can do anything. They have detailed insight into how complex systems work, yet they focus on the essentials so that everyone understands the goal on the horizon. They celebrate small wins, knowing they will ultimately lead to larger successes.
These four GE Vernova employees — who appeared today at the New York Stock Exchange opening bell to celebrate Earth Day — are operational and systems thinkers, committed to continuous improvement as they approach challenges with adaptability and enthusiasm. Their dedication to GE Vernova’s employee resource groups (ERGs) has given them a broad view of the company’s greatest strength: its people. Their efforts to enhance GE Vernova’s inclusive culture have paid major dividends as they empower others, and themselves, to thrive in work and in life.
Promoting Sustainability: Françoise Schorosch
In her role as global supply chain strategist, Françoise Schorosch gets to see the big picture. It’s a new position for her, one that leverages her expertise in sustainability policy and her ability to work effectively across different functional teams.
“Innovation is bringing people together with different points of view to solve a complex problem,” says Schorosch, who is based in London. “Having diversity of thought and coming at an issue from different angles can help you find innovative solutions.” Before taking on this role, Schorosch supported commercial teams in responding to customer requests about sustainability. Anything from estimating the carbon footprint of an offshore wind turbine to outlining human rights requirements to explaining the potential social and economic impacts of a project on a local community. She discovered that there was no standard method for handling these requests — so she worked with her team to create one, ensuring that sustainability was integrated into the bid process.
Consideration for the environment comes naturally to Schorosch, who spends her weekends outside and tries to reduce her personal climate impact. “It’s something that always drove my interests, and it’s so nice that it aligns with what I do at work,” she says. “You know when you have a radio that’s slightly on the wrong setting, and you finally get it in tune? That’s what it feels like.”
Fittingly, Schorosch is one of three co-leads for GE Vernova’s Sustainability Network, an ERG formed in 2018. She works with teams at various global sites to support their initiatives, whether cleaning up a local river or hosting a collection drive for used children’s books. During Earth Week, the group is launching a toolkit outlining simple steps people can take to live more sustainably, such as switching to energy-efficient lightbulbs or planting flowers that attract pollinators in their yards or at the office.
As much as she already knows, Schorosch never tires of getting new ideas from her co-workers. GE Vernova, she says, is “really a collaborative space where you can learn something new every day, if you just ask.”
Making Connections: Phillip Brenna
Phillip Brenna operates with the kaizen mindset: “change for the better.” It’s a mentality that has helped Brenna, a sourcing specialist for Onshore Wind, improve operations for his teams, overcome challenges, and build a network of friends and allies.
In his current role at GE Vernova, he procures direct materials for manufacturing wind turbine blades. Previously, he spent 15 years building the turbine blades in Grand Forks, North Dakota, an experience that taught him the power of continuous progress. Every step forward, though it may appear small, is an example of innovation. “How can we make those incremental improvements that seem minuscule at the time, but we later look back and see we’ve made big changes?” he asks. “It’s always satisfying to find a way to make people’s jobs easier, better, and more efficient.”
Brenna applies his can-do spirit to his work supporting colleagues in ERGs. Before he joined GE Vernova, he served in the North Dakota Army National Guard for eight years. Deployed to Iraq for a tour of duty as a combat engineer, he dismantled roadside bombs. The experience left him with PTSD, which he speaks about openly to help others understand its effects.
At GE Vernova, Brenna sought “battle buddies” through the Veterans Network, established in 2009. He is now on the ERG’s leadership team, serving as a pillar co-lead and summit coordinator. Whether it’s talking about combat or considering how to translate military experience into something a civilian manager can relate to, “it’s good to have those people that you can reach out to, to help with a situation they understand,” he says.
Through an ERG summit, Brenna connected with members of GE Vernova’s Disabilities Advocacy Network (DAN), which has nearly 2,000 members. Now he’s on the leadership team for the DAN hub for GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy in Wilmington, North Carolina — even though he’s neither in nuclear energy nor in Wilmington. He also serves as kaizen facilitator for the Sustainability Network. And last year he was on the planning committee for the global summit that brought together all of GE Vernova’s ERGs.
Brenna seems to make connections wherever he goes. “DAN, Veterans, and Sustainability — we call them the ‘and’ networks,” Brenna says. “We are veterans and we’re disabled. We’re veterans and African American. We’re disabled but also Hispanic or Asian American Pacific Islanders. Being in those ‘and’ networks is really good for building bridges across different ERGs. We’re all working toward the same goal: to help employees feel more included.”
Expanding Perspectives: Jaclyn Cochrane
Translation is a big part of Jaclyn Cochrane’s job as a financial communication manager. She transforms facts and figures into compelling stories for GE Vernova’s internal and external audiences, and helps plan investor events that bring the company’s strategy to life. Using her ability to view financial results through different lenses, she works to continuously improve how GE Vernova explains its performance and outlook to investors, media, employees, and other stakeholders.
“It’s been a one-of-a-kind opportunity to shape a financial narrative for a new company,” says Cochrane, who is based in Connecticut. “Coming into the role, I had finance experience but not public-company finance experience, so it’s been about mastering a new language and understanding a new perspective: the investor perspective.”
Cochrane crafts messages that are clear, creative, and streamlined — no easy task when reporting on complex operations. In the past year, her responsibilities have included helping to build out the GE Vernova investor website, contributing to the first Annual Report and upcoming shareholder meeting, and developing infographics that GE Vernova executives reference to tell the company’s story.
As Cochrane is sharing stories about GE Vernova’s financial progress, she’s also gaining insight from the stories of others. She is a co–operating lead for DAN and has been involved with the group for a number of years. “It’s broadened my perspective on disabilities,” she says. “It’s shown me that barriers and stigmas still very much exist for people with disabilities, and taught me about “ableism,” which is the belief that non-disabled people are more valuable to society than disabled people.”
The experience has inspired her to volunteer with a therapeutic horseback-riding program for children with disabilities. It’s also shaped her views on innovation, and she notes that greater achievements in innovation often stem from a focus on accessibility and finding ways to increase inclusivity.
The past year has brought a lot of change, but she’s ready for it. “With change,” Cochrane says, “comes opportunity and excitement.”
Putting People First: Shweta Ojha
“I build bridges,” says Shweta Ojha. Not the physical kind — though she is a civil engineer by training. Instead, “I connect strategy with execution, technology with sustainability, and people with purpose,” she explains, capturing the essence of her role in the evolving energy landscape.
Ojha is a project procurement and logistics manager and sourcing operations leader. Her teams design and implement energy systems that power massive data centers for web service customers, as well as critical high-voltage direct current grid modernization projects supporting the global shift to more sustainable energy. From massive transformers to tiny insulators, she ensures that materials arrive safely and efficiently to meet the demands of these high-impact projects.
“Innovation, to me, isn’t just about adopting the latest technology. It means crafting creative and sustainable solutions to complex challenges, while never losing sight of the people and communities affected by our work,” she says.
While she enjoys the technical aspects of her role, she’s also passionate about building inclusive workplaces, whether through hosting cultural celebrations or facilitating honest conversations about how people can feel welcomed at work. She leads the Asian Pacific Allies & Friends hub in Chicago, serves as a site ombuds leader, where she helps resolve conflicts and creates safe spaces for dialogue, and participates in the GE Vernova Culture & Inclusion Council, helping to shape policies and initiatives that reinforce GE Vernova’s inclusive culture. Beyond her contributions to inclusion, Ojha is dedicated to mentoring the next generation of engineers. Through her involvement with the Society of Women Engineers, she provides guidance and support to young engineers, helping them navigate their careers and find their voices.
In recognition of her leadership and impact, Ojha received a 2024 achievement award for early-career professionals from the Society of Asian Scientists and Engineers (SASE).
“The philosophy at GE Vernova resonates deeply with me, which makes me feel like I’m free to make decisions and do things to make the world a better place,” she says. “Reducing environmental impact and shifting how we power the world is what we are focused on.”
This special edition of The Current comprises three stories about the 12 employees proudly representing GE Vernova at the New York Stock Exchange on Earth Day. Please enjoy these stories about our technology innovators and customer solutions specialists.