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For a few months this year, John Ballard's life was "all Dominion, all the time."

He was part of a small team at JPMorgan working on Dominion Energy's roughly $67 billion merger with NextEra, which, if approved, would create the world's largest electricity producer. As an executive director in natural resources investment banking, Ballard served as a quasi "project manager" for JPMorgan's banking team on a larger scale than he had in the past, navigating all of its work for Dominion and often delivering it to the client.

"If I think about where I do best, it's probably boiling down pretty complex analytical concepts, but presenting them in a way that's digestible," he said.

He used the same skills as a peer tutor in music courses at Amherst College — understanding dense information, breaking it down into simple parts, and communicating it clearly.

Since he became an executive director at the beginning of 2026, Ballard has been spending more time in utility sector boardrooms, where many employees have been with their companies for decades — he said he's still learning how to command the presence of those senior leaders, given his age.

"There's always a challenge of commanding a presence and being confident in your ability to deliver advice," he said. "I'm obviously still growing in that, but I've really enjoyed that challenge."

Ballard, who enjoys playing the board games Codenames and Coup with his close-knit college friend group, thinks of his career progression like clearing levels in a video game, with each new role bringing distinct challenges and goals.

Right now, he's focused on building relationships across the utility sector.

That relationship building has also been key to his rise at JPMorgan, since he thinks "interpersonal awareness" is an underappreciated skill.

"No one's really there telling you here's what to do, when to do it," he said. "It's figuring out how you fit into the broader team, what you should be doing, and what styles people like."