Alum celebrates Pride at Entergy and beyond

As customer communications manager at Entergy, Rob Pettit (MBA ’25) has a clear mission: foster understanding among employees of the Fortune 500 utility and build connections between the company and the many communities it serves. 

“In my role, I support the company’s chief customer officer by providing strategic counsel on messaging development for internal employee communications and external customer campaigns,” Pettit says. 

Doing the job means Pettit has to be familiar with the many populations that rely on Entergy for the electricity that powers their businesses, neighborhoods and lives. 

“As a utility company, we serve all people in the community, no matter who they are or what their background is, so it’s incumbent upon us to get to know them.

“It’s a lot of fun,” he adds. “I love digging into the data and figuring out who our customers are and what they need through focus groups, message testing and customer segmentation research.”

Pettit has been with Entergy since 2017 when he joined as a social media specialist in Jackson, Mississippi. After a few years in that position, he moved to New Orleans to start a new communications role — and to begin working toward a new degree. 

“I’d always wanted to get my MBA,” he says. “It was one of my personal goals. So, when I moved to New Orleans, I immediately began looking into programs.”

When he heard about Freeman’s Executive MBA program, Pettit knew it would be a good fit. Designed for seasoned professionals, Freeman’s EMBA is an accelerated curriculum that allows students to collaborate in-person with experts from across industries while strengthening their executive management skills.  

“The program is great because it exposes you to people who come from many different backgrounds,” Pettit says. “All the folks in my cohort were working in different industries and all brought something unique to the table.”

Pettit’s EMBA experience was formative, helping him better understand what new approaches and perspectives he could bring to a company. Today, Pettit is supporting an open-minded work culture at Entergy both through his management role and through his collaborations with the company’s Pride Employee Resource Group (ERG), a voluntary, open access, employee-led cohort of 200 LGBTQ+ employees and allies. 

“I identify as LGBTQ+, so knowing that my company is working to create this group of like-minded people and allied folks means a lot,” he says. “It’s an inclusive group. Any employee can join Entergy’s various ERGs, regardless of their background or how they identify.” 

Pettit says the Pride ERG gives co-workers the chance to get to know one another through conversations, panel discussions and activities. 

“Even though you might not personally identify with a group, joining helps you better understand your coworkers and the issues they’re facing,” he says. “For instance, I’ve had co-workers whose children recently came out as gay join our ERG. The group became a really important resource for them.”

Pettit first joined the Pride ERG as a member and then went on to serve as chair for 2021 and 2022. When he became chair, he wanted to draw on his experiences as a communications professional and customer advocate to help LGBTQ+ employees share their stories. 

“We collected coming out stories and shared those for National Coming Out Month,” he says. “As a professional communicator, I was able to compile those stories, publish them and promote them to our employees.”

As chair, Pettit’s vision wasn’t limited to what he could accomplish at Entergy. He also worked to strengthen the Pride ERG’s partnerships in the wider New Orleans community. “Entergy really values supporting our local community, whether it’s through workforce development, environmental initiatives or assisting low-income or at-risk customers,” he says. “That’s why we thought it would be a great idea to partner with Habitat for Humanity.

“Habitat was doing Pride Builds, and we were able to bring out Entergy employees to go on site and help with construction. It was a great way for our folks to get to know one another and support a good cause.”

To celebrate Pride Month in the city this year, Entergy New Orleans is sponsoring New Orleans Pridefest, and members of the Pride ERG will be participating in the New Orleans Pride Run/Walk. Pettit says celebrating Pride Month each June is about finding a supportive community that embraces everyone’s differences. 

“Finding folks who support you is so important,” he says. “It means so much to be around people who embrace you for who you are.” 

For Pettit, it’s all in a day’s work. 

“To be successful in business, you have to build trust,” he says. “That’s the foundation of any team. And you build trust by sharing something about yourself — by allowing people to learn more about you. Once you build that trust, you can execute on your business objectives. It’s all interconnected.”