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Women's History Month: Celebrating BPA’s trailblazers

collage of female engineers
Women’s History Month commemorates, celebrates and highlights the vital role of women in American history, culture and society. Since its beginning in 1937, women have contributed greatly to BPA’s history, sometimes behind the scenes. Let’s look at some of the women who were the first to make history at BPA.
(Pictured, above: Top left to right: Florence Ango,Doris Keeler, Gwendolyn Worthy, Vickie Van Zandt; bottom left to right: Pam Odam, Judi Johansen. Laura Demory, Wanda Yates, Sally Wren)
Florence Ango
 
Ango was BPA’s first female engineer and was instrumental in the development of the Network Analyzer in the 1940s. Considered the computer of its day, Ango’s specialty in the project was to figure out how loads could be combined without losing their electric characteristics within the system – in short, getting the system down to a size so that it could be studied.
Doris Rae Keeler
 
A contract and patent attorney, Keeler was one of BPA’s original staff of 12. In 1950, she became the first woman to act in the role of BPA administrator. Keeler Substation was named after her.
Hildred Douglas
Douglas was BPA’s first woman substation operator apprentice in 1972.
Vickie VanZandt
VanZandt worked at BPA from 1973 to 2009. She was the first female chief engineer and first female senior vice president of Transmission Services.
Pam Odam
 
Odam became BPA’s first female electrical field engineer in 1974. She also wasthe first woman in the Pacific Northwest certified to work on high-voltage electrical equipment.
Wanda Yates
Yates was BPA's first female SCADA operator, dispatcher and substation operator (beginning in 1977).
Sally Wren
Wren started at BPA as a clerk typist and then became agency's first woman electrician in 1983, after completing BPA's Electrician Apprenticeship Program.
Cynthia Rounds


 Rounds was the first black female High School Engineering Student Aide to join BPA in 1980 and was a member of BPA’s Cooperative Education Engineering Student program from 1981-1986, she earned bachelor of science degrees in mathematics and electrical engineering. She was hired as BPA’s first black female engineer in 1986, and from 1992 through 2012 she was the first black female engineer to represent BPA, traveling to and providing customer service engineering services to BPA’s customers throughout the region. She works today as an electrical engineer for BPA’s Transmission organization.
Laura Demory
Demory became BPA’s first female district engineer in 1994.
Judith Johansen
Johansen was BPA’s first woman administrator; she served from 1998 to 2000.
Gwendolyn Worthy
Worthy became the first black female substation operator on the direct current transmission system in 2000, and in 2003 she became the first black female substation operator on the alternating current transmission system.
Cristi Sawtell
Sawtell became BPA’s first female lineworker in 2008 after graduating from BPA’s Lineman Apprenticeship Program.
Mary Jensen
Jensen became BPA's first female executive vice president to serve as general counsel in 2015.
Lorri Bodi
As the vice president for Environment, Fish and Wildlife from 2010 to 2018, Bodi played a key role in regional agreements for fish, including the Columbia Basin Fish Accords.

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