Background
Aya Lakkis is a utility consultant with nearly a decade of experience at the intersection of field operations, enterprise systems, and grid modernization. She has worked across the full delivery arc — from configuring ADMS platforms in test environments to standing with crews during outage events to presenting program risk to C-suite leadership.
Her background spans network model design and validation, GIS modernization, ADMS and OMS integration, field mobility deployment, and cross-system QA. Before founding GridSphere, she spent nine years at DTE Energy and Accenture, where she was consistently trusted to operate above her formal title — backfilling Senior Manager roles, leading enterprise testing strategy, and shaping programs from early planning through go-live.
What she's actually done
- — Led the technical and field deployment of a mobile GIS platform used by 450+ T&D field personnel at DTE Energy, including overhead, underground, primary services, DER, and control room operators
- — Supported $11M+ in ADMS change orders by surfacing field-driven insights and cross-functional alignment gaps
- — Supervised a team of 14 union-represented GIS analysts and drafters responsible for gas pipeline mapping and safety readiness
- — Founded and leads Accenture's Global GIS Connect — a quarterly knowledge-sharing forum with 400+ geospatial professionals across continents
- — Led UAT, SIT, and FAT testing across business units; provided emergency response escalation support during go-live events
- — Presented at Schneider LINK, ESRI IMGIS/GEOCONX, and the USGIF GEOINT Summit
Extended bench
GridSphere operates lean by design — but not alone. For engagements requiring deep platform expertise, Aya works with a trusted bench of senior technical specialists including global solution architects with direct experience in GIS and ADMS/electrical engineering at scale. These are practitioners who have configured, deployed, and troubleshot the same systems our clients are modernizing.
This isn't a staffing list. It's a small group of people who know the work and can be brought in when the engagement calls for it.
Education
Why GridSphere
GridSphere was founded on a simple premise: the gap between what utility systems claim and what utility crews experience is where most modernization programs quietly fail — and closing that gap requires someone who has been on both sides of it.
Aya built GridSphere to bring that perspective to utilities and primes who need a second set of eyes that will actually tell them the truth.
Work with someone who's been in the field.
Tell us what you're working on. We'll tell you whether we're the right fit.