Emmanuel Business Collaborative welcomes Joe Nolan, CEO of Eversource

Joseph R. Nolan Jr., Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of New England’s largest utility company, Eversource, shared over 40 years of wisdom and business acumen with Emmanuel students, faculty and alumni on March 25th.

Nolan visited campus as the latest guest of the Emmanuel Business Collaborative (EBC) Speaker Series, which has welcomed a constellation of eminent experts and speakers in the business world to Emmanuel to share their insight and experience.

From joining as a customer service representative in 1985, to his current role today, Nolan holds a wide variety of other responsibilities – like serving on the Chairman’s Council of Boston Children’s Hospital (BCH), the board of directors of the Edison Electric Institute, the Camp Harbor View Foundation and much more. He began by making one point about his early career journey, and how he got to be where he is today.

"The pathway to the top takes many, many roads," Nolan said.

Joseph Nolan addresses the audience of students, faculty and alumni in the Cardinal Cushing Library's lecture hall.

It wasn’t the customer service role that made Nolan want to start at Eversource – public relations was the type of role he was in the market for at the time – but over the years he found that going from the ground up helped him to build all the knowledge and skills he uses now as CEO.

In the start of his 40th year with the company, Nolan discussed what he’s seeing in the energy field, and pointed to energy efficiency and reducing carbon footprint as the most evident growth areas he’s seeing for aspiring professionals interested in energy and sustainability.

“You can never have enough friends… wherever you go to work, meet everybody. When I got to this company, I had friends all across the board,” Nolan said, “start to build a network…even the smallest of things, you help somebody, they’re [going to be] there for you.”

He did this over the course of his time at Eversource by engaging with and listening to as many people as he could.

What keeps Nolan going? It’s knowing that he can make a difference for people through his work – and he recommended that the audience pursue something that makes them feel the same way.

“You have to do something that gets you out of bed in the morning. Have something you’re passionate about – something you’re aiming for.”

Nolan chats with Emmanuel students following the EBC Speaker Series.