CC Minutes 03/11/2003 - Laserfiche WebLink

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City Commission Special Workshop Presentations Investor Owned Electrical Providers Page 7 Central Florida with a MBA and an VSBA in business. Next is Gail Simpson. Gail is our Manager of Public Policy for Progress Energy Florida. Gail is responsible for the local government affairs issues throughout the service territory. She was bom in Tampa, Florida and graduated from USF. She has been with Progress Energy for more than thirteen years. Next is David Almato, Regional Engineering Manager. David has been with Progress Energy for more than fourteen years. He has held various field and staff positions. He has an engineering degree from the University of South Florida. Craig Allen, our Regional Storm Supervisor. Craig is an eighteen veteran of Progress Energy. Craig has had extensive experience in line operations, held experience as lineman and line supervisor. He is responsible for monitoring storm activity and assuring effective restoration, overseeing all major storm plans. Next is Allen Sowell, Distribution Manager, Longwood operation. A1 is a twenty year veteran of electric industry. He joined Progress Energy one year ago. He is an engineer from Georgia Tech, holds an MBA in Finance from Kennis Allstate University. Last, but not least, we have Laura Crystal, Customer Service Manager. Laura has seventeen years of experience in Customer Service, eight with Progress Energy. She is a graduate of UCF with Bachelor of Science. She is responsibte for insuring quality of service to all Progress Energy customers. Introductions are important in our field because we get accused quite often of being the North Carolina utility. As you can see, these are not North Carolina people. These are people from Florida, grew up here in Florida, educated here in Florida and work here in Florida. Now to tell you something about myself. I moved to Florida Power, now Progress Energy, January 1, 2002. I am an engineer and I am responsible for all the operations here in Central Florida, all the way up to the Georgia line. Formerly, before coming here, I was the Vice President of Transmission for CP&L. I have three daughters and a wife; my daughters attend Seminole County Public Schools. We didn't just come here to work, we came here to live. ! am a member of the Foundation Board for Seminole Community College. I sit on the Foundation Board for University of Central Florida. I am an Athletic Trustee at Stetson University. As far as industry expertise goes, I sit on the Association of Edison Illumating Company Corporate Committee for the design and procurement of apparatus for the electric utility industry. I am also one of two members of the investor owned utilities to sit on the National Electric Safety Committee main committee. That committee is responsible for all the rules and regulations governing electric power. So as you can see, again we live here. Don't let anyone tell you that smaller is better in my business, it just isn't so - larger is better, economies of scale and expertise do matter. Just last night, the Orlando Utilities Commission President, Bob Haven, acknowledged that economies of scale were important when he talked about Longwood trying to go it alone. This is particularly true when you talk about storm response. Consider Hurricane Andrew, what is perhaps the most devastating storm to ever hit Florida. Florida Municipal Electric Association reported that it had sent twenty-nine crews to help out. In September of 2001, a small storm hit Florida called Gabriel. In comparison, over four hundred additional crews were brought in by Florida Power to help restore what was merely a 100,000 customers out of power; that is more than a 1,000 people additional resources brought