1. Describe your current role and your responsibilities.
My role is one of the senior leadership team focusing on power supply, markets, and other wholesale power issues. My group performs load forecasting, resource planning and acquisition, contract management, and energy efficiency.
2. In general, how has the Management Internship Program (MIP) helped you in your work and in your career?
The MIP was what I like to call a "Co-Op MBA", meaning it provided insight and knowledge in all areas of the electric cooperative at a deep enough level, but not diving into each area's minutiae. As a G&T employee the areas I was most blind to in my members' daily jobs were covered in this program and I felt I can have more effective conversations because of that knowledge I now have.
3. What’s one thing from MIP that has made a difference for you? The network you develop is huge. I have 20-30 other professionals that I am friends with as well as colleagues and we support each other. I know I can reach out to anyone with a question I might not be able to get an answer to, or an issue I may not have faced at home, but I know they've faced before, and get a really good conversation.
4. What is something you’ve approached differently or had greater success with because of what you learned from MIP?
The link between our wholesale rates and the distribution cooperative's retail rates is much clearer to me. I utilize that information to work through complex wholesale issues and package up impacts that are translatable down to distribution rate impacts.
5. If you were telling a peer or colleague about MIP, what would you want them to know? In other words, what advice would you give someone considering the MIP?
I would highly recommend going through the program and I would tell them to get out of your shell immediately and participate in discussions with the other attendees early and often. Tapping into the co-op network is huge and this is a golden opportunity to develop deep relationships on a national scale.
