Michael Desiderato — A Passion for Sharing Knowledge

 

Apr 17, 2018

By Line Goyette

I first met Michael Desiderato when he was a young teenager working part-time in his brother’s business, a greengrocery in the heart of the Plateau Mont-Royal in Montreal. He was supposed to stay in the back sorting fruits and vegetables, but Michael always came out front of to make suggestions to customers, help them find a rare vegetable, or share a family recipe (I have one for his mother’s tomato sauce). I knew that he later studied electrical engineering and I was happy, but not surprised, to see him at the official opening last year of ABB’s new headquarters in the Technoparc of Ville St-Laurent. He held the position of National Sales Manager, Power Systems Power Generation, and on that day, just as he did in the family business, he directed guests to the kiosk that was best suited to their needs, or provided sharp and tailored information to guests interested in future energy generation systems. Finally, he had not changed much.

Why a career in electricity? What led you to choose this area?

As a young engineering graduate my career path began in the world of IT, where I spent two years as a project manager executing wireless network projects. I quickly began to look around at different industries and different challenges, and came across ABB. As an eager and energetic person, I quickly secured a project manager position at ABB in the High Power Rectifier Group, where after a short time (a period of two years) I was promoted to Global Business Development for polysilicon power supplies via the sales position I currently held. I left ABB for a period of two years for a director’s position at Utilicase, a medium size Quebec company with its core competencies and business relations in the power utility industry.

I worked side by side with some big names such as Normand Lamothe (formerly with Hydro-Québec), Spero Mensah (formerly with Alstom) and Jean Pierre Girard (formerly with Siemens). After some time at Utilicase, I decided to once again come back home to ABB… I accepted a position as an account manager for the mining group, where I had three successful years before I accepted my current position as National Sales Manager for the Power Generation group.

Why a career in power?

Hydro-Québec has always been a big part of was Quebec’s economy/society based not only on the sale of power, but on innovations that have come out of this globally recognized power producer. Having the Q symbol lit up in downtown Montreal and my curiosity for renewable energy (from my past experience at ABB), the power industry was a domain I was hoping to explore early in my professional life. Living the different challenges across the different power producers in Canada assured me that a long and interesting time is what awaits me in the power industry.

What have been your greatest challenges and achievements since the beginning of your career?

Quickly understanding the different power markets across Canada, understanding the different customer challenges, and adapting a customer-specific approach.

As for achievements, being so young in a mature industry and being able to conduct business at all levels of our customer management, and gaining management’s trust to lead a mature sales team to attain our short-term and long-term goals.

If you had the opportunity to change something in the electrical industry, what would it be?

Considering I am only three years into the industry, I would not change anything right now.

What do you see as electrical industry trends to be monitored, especially in your particular field?

Here are two:

• the impact of closing all the coal-powered generating stations in 2030 in Alberta and its effect on energy prices
• green energy solutions in Western Canada.

Why we should follow this latter trend?

All of the coal-powered generating plants are to be decommissioned or converted to a cleaner fuel source by 2030. At the moment Western Canada does have surplus energy, but once these reliable coal burning generating plants go off line, we would need an alternative source of reliable power. It will be interesting to see how a combination of green generating power (solar and wind) with an energy storage system will be able to supply the Alberta market.

Have you had a mentor, either professional or personal?

Yes, my first manager at ABB and now long-time friend, André Steinberg.

Why was he important to your career?

He gave me the opportunity to join ABB in a project management role and promoted me all the way up to global sales by recognizing my performance and achievements.

What did you learn from him and what would you tell to a Millennial thinking of joining the electrical/energy industry?

The list of things I learned from André is very lengthy, but if I had to choose one thing to communicate to a Millennial in general it would be to stay persistent and patient in attaining your goals. Don’t lose focus with the distractions around you, and push yourself to achieve them.

Line Goyette is Managing Editor of CEW; linegoyette@kerrwil.com