Coronado resident Jacqueline Trapp wore every hat imaginable in her 33 years at Southern California Edison.
She was an intern, warehouse manager, and held senior-level management positions in business relations, the program management office, application services and infrastructure functions.
Her roles led her to the world of human resources, where she became the HR manager and eventually senior vice president and chief human resources officer of both Southern California Edison and its parent company, Edison International.
Involved in a diversity of roles, Trapp understood the heart and soul of the company’s purpose and people.
She left a long legacy to uphold with her retirement from the company in 2022. She and her husband Eric Trapp are both retired and living in Coronado.
Working for one of largest utilities in U.S.
Edison International is one of the nation’s largest electric utility holding companies that provides clean and reliable energy. Southern California Edison (SCE), Edison International’s subsidiary, serves about 15-million people in central, coastal and Southern California.
“I worked for a company that had high integrity, which to me, is the basis for any job.”
-Jacqueline Trapp on her time at Southern California Edison.
“I worked for a company that had high integrity, which to me, is the basis for any job,” Trapp said. “There were all of these opportunities to do things I couldn’t even imagine I would do. They just allowed me to do many things within one company, and so there was no reason to leave.”
As her role morphed into the realm of human resources, Trapp established a framework for developing a positive working environment for employees to feel heard and valued.
Trapp said HR has become the social conscience of the company, and a strong business acumen and empathy are two of the major attributes needed to do the job well.
“Leading with Heart”
Jacqueline branded something called “Leading with Heart,” pushing the concept of physiological safety in addition to physical safety within the workplace.
Natalie Schilling, successor to Trapp as the senior vice president and chief human resources officer, said Trapp held a large leadership meeting to have open conversation about how to avoid all forms of conscious or unconscious discrimination in the workplace, creating a space for people to tell their stories.
She also developed an annual diversity, equity and inclusion report to look at the company’s pay, representation and employee sentiment. The report was published internally and externally for transparency.
“That was courageous and cutting edge,” Schilling said. “No other companies that we knew of were doing that and being that transparent, and it left a legacy in the company.”
Schilling also said her predecessor provided a smooth transition for her.
“She recruited me, brought me on board, and the one thing I recognized right away, was that she was an extremely inclusive leader,” Schilling said. “She actively managed my onboarding to be sure that she set me up for success. I’ve never had that experience in my life of the care and support that was provided by Jacqueline.”
Making Coronado home
Trapp and her husband bought a property in Coronado 12 years ago with the intent to make it a retirement home.
Trapp was living in LA before the pandemic hit, then moved to her property in Coronado while she worked from home. This move was two years earlier than anticipated, since she had planned to relocate after retirement in 2022.
The silver lining of COVID was that her husband, who retired around the same time as Trapp from Sempra Energy, was already living in their house in Coronado.
So, instead of traveling back and forth to see each other on weekends like they had planned to do until retirement, the two of them were able to stay in Coronado earlier than expected.
Now enjoying retirement on the island with her husband, Trapp is a member of the Rotary Club of Coronado, specifically on the committee for the “End Polio Now” campaign. She also volunteered for the SunCoast Market Co-op Here Comes the Sun event.
Trapp and her husband spend their time playing pickleball, connecting friends and family, and traveling.
“There’s something about Coronado that is so different and so special.”
-Jacqueline Trapp
“There’s something about Coronado that is so different and so special,” Trapp said. “It just feels like this slice of heaven that doesn’t exist anywhere else. Plus, we have great weather, great beaches, great places to go, and a great community of people that live here.”
She said that being present is one of the many things she enjoys about retirement, especially after working a job that ran 24/7.
On the horizon, Trapp said she is toying with the idea of writing a book that would touch on the topic of walking a mile in someone else’s shoes.
