When the CFO of Consolidated Edison, Inc. in New York retired in 1996, Joan Freilich was waiting in the wings as a candidate well-groomed for the position. At the time, no woman had ever advanced to CFO of a major utility in the United States. Even still, Freilich proved capable and confident enough to pave a new way for women in the 21^st century working world.

Freilich attributes much of her professional success to lifelong learning. Although most of her career was spent with Con Ed, she got her start as a French teacher.

The New York native obtained a degree in French literature from Barnard College in the 1960’s after being captivated by the French language. This led her into a PhD program in French Literature at Columbia University. She graduated in 1970 with thoughts of educating students in French literature and managed to secure her first teaching position at Columbia University.

“I got very involved in teaching methods, which I enjoyed,” Freilich said.

She taught in positions at both the high school and college levels. “But primarily I was teaching French I, II, III, and one Lit course. And I thought, ‘This is just not what I want to do for the rest of my life.’”

Freilich moved into the role of admissions director at the College of New Rochelle, a position that exposed her to the business side of education. “[But] I could tell I wasn’t going to be satisfied with this over the long term,” Freilich said.

One solution to her dissatisfaction meant leaving colleagues and her original life plan to pursue something very uncommon for women of the day.

“I decided if I got a degree in business, I would have more opportunities to do different things in life, whether I stayed in academics or not,” Freilich said. 

So she did. While completing the EMBA program at Columbia University, Freilich became aware that the institution trained quite a few businessmen but hardly any businesswomen. She was encouraged to believe, however, that the business environment was rapidly changing and that regulatory pressure to increase diversity in hiring was painting a new job-scape.  

After graduating, Freilich secured a position on the customer service team for Consolidated Edison Inc. in New York in 1978. It would turn out to be a huge step in the right direction, but would only be a short stop on her career path.

Freilich soon became the top pick for updating the company’s accounting procedures. 

“I would sit with someone, learn about what they did, and then write it up,” Freilich shared. “Then I’d sit with someone else and learn about another process. I got to learn about all aspects of the accounting system and department. It was a tremendous experience and the skills in writing I brought with me were a tremendous help.”

Four years and hundreds of accounting procedures later, Freilich had learned dozens of Con Ed processes.

Freilich’s experience in this role prepped her to become accounting manager, a position she held for several years. Then she accepted a position as an assistant to the Executive Vice President in a completely different department, Power Generation.

Soon after taking the position, Freilich found herself far from her desk. A 9-week workers strike forced Con Ed’s office employees out of their comfort zones and Freilich began putting in her own time and sweat at a Con Ed power plant.

“It became a very fun learning experience, even though physically it was a little difficult,” Freilich said.

Even after the strike was over, Freilich didn’t let her hard work wane.  As executives retired in 1990, Freilich became Vice President of Corporate Planning reporting to the Chairman of Con Ed. In 1992, she became the company’s Controller.

Her biggest success came in 1996. Con Ed promoted Freilich to CFO, illuminating a new place for executive women in the process.

“It was a big accomplishment for a woman,” Freilich shared about being hired as CFO, which she considers her most satisfying success. “There have been a number of women CFOs of utilities since then, but I was the first in a major utility.”

Freilich led Con Ed through some of the most significant regulatory changes to date in the national utility industry. Efforts to take the vertically-integrated industry and transition to a fully competitive market was a long and difficult process, but Freilich’s help at both the state and federal level made the transition in New York a successful one.

In another area of the country, however, the transition wasn’t as smooth. California’s rolling blackouts in the early 2000’s set many New York utility investors on edge, worried that Con Ed would suffer the same predicament from deregulation. During an address titled ‘Why New York is Not California,’ Freilich reassured investors that whatever wasn’t quite connecting in California —literally—was connecting just fine in New York. 

The self-confidence Freilich exuded during Con Ed’s restructuring efforts is an essential element that she thinks often goes missing in middle management women. The French-professor-turned-CFO promotes openness to new experiences and degrees.

“It’s important for women to have the self-confidence to try different things,” Freilich said. “The fact that I was a woman affected my career in a number of ways and presented different types of challenges. Make sure you are open and if you’re asked to do something out of your comfort zone. Try it, because the world is changing around you and the ability to take on new roles is very important.”

Although Freilich was in the minority as a woman, she wasn’t completely alone at Con Ed. Several people who would become her most beloved colleagues were also women navigating—and in fact pioneering—the business realm along with her.

“There were very few executive women in corporations and certainly in Con Ed, and there was no way for us to get together,” Freilich said. To help foster Con Ed’s female community, Freilich championed weekly women lunch groups and other informal efforts.

The working world for women still changed slowly, however. “In looking back at college alumnae material, you see that only a couple of us ever went into business,” Freilich noted. “Fortunately, I had the education and the personal flexibility to take advantage of what opportunities I had.”

Freilich served as Con Ed’s CFO from 1996 to 2005 and retired in 2006. Today, she serves as a trustee on the Boards of both the College of New Rochelle and Barnard College. “It was a way of returning to education, getting a different view of education, and hopefully bringing back some things I learned over the years in business to assist the schools,” Freilich said.

Freilich, now a resident of Miami, Fla, dedicates much of her time to developing new business opportunities for others through the SCORE program, a national non-profit organization sponsored by the Small Business Association (SBA). The organization provides guidance and training for small businesses. Freilich is one of about 80 seasoned professionals who volunteer their time to counsel local entrepreneurs.

“I work primarily with businesses that are looking for financing, such as small-dollar SBA-guaranteed loans,” she said. “It’s very interesting because all these enterprises are different and it’s quite amazing how creative some people can be.”

In addition to mentoring 2-3 businesses at any time, Freilich also presents workshops on topics within her expertise.

After a long and successful career with Con Ed, Freilich is a teacher once again.

“It gives me a lot of satisfaction to be able to give back some of the benefits that I’ve had,” Freilich said. “I’ve had a great career and I’m happy to be able to help other people get started.”