As a “financial guy,” I’ve always been interested in numbers. When I became Great Lakes Energy’s (GLE) president and chief executive officer on March 29, my focus switched slightly.

The members and employees of GLE are now the number one priority in my new role. I served as GLE’s chief financial officer for 12 years, plus was both CFO and chief operating officer the past two years. Prior to that I served in leadership positions for 12 years with two large electric utilities in Florida (a municipal and an electric co-op).

As you can imagine, controlling costs was important in all of these past jobs and it will continue to be important to me in my new role. As CEO, I understand the impact others – like our power supplier – have in bringing affordable service to GLE members.

Since power supply costs make up two-thirds of our year-round members’ bills, our relationship with Wolverine Power Cooperative (Wolverine) really is crucial to our goal of providing reliable, affordable electricity. It’s through the support of Wolverine’s leadership and our board of directors that we’re able to meet the needs of our members. It’s important that we have GLE directors Larry Monshor and Dale Farrier on the Wolverine board, while GLE directors Paul Byl and Dick Walsworth serve on the Spartan Renewable Energy board.

Something equally important to me is the culture at GLE that was established by Steve Boeckman.

That culture has served our cooperative very well and we’ll continue to build on it. GLE employees are our best asset and I’m looking forward to getting to know them all better.

I took the first step in doing that earlier this spring when I visited GLE’s eight offices along with other executive staff members. At the meetings, I shared information about the direction of GLE as well as some personal background. If you’ve met my wife Robin, you may know she has strong musical skills, which are shared by our son Billy.  Needless to say, I can’t keep up in that area, but love to listen to both of them. Robin plays piano and I find it amazing that, after weeks of not playing and without warmup, she can sit down, sight read and play a piece of music. Billy—stage name “Billy D.”—makes us very proud as part of the jazz studies doctoral program at the University of Pittsburgh. He plays a very mean jazz piano.

Both Robin and I were born and raised in Chicago, but we met and married in Florida when I followed my parents there after undergraduate studies. We lived in Florida for 20 years, so as you may expect from a longtime Florida resident, I do find Michigan winters challenging some years. Like a true Chicago native, however, I’ve adapted. I also find my love of golfing on nearby beautiful courses during nice weather more than makes up for the challenges of occasional long winters.

I’m honored to be part of this co-op family and carry on GLE’s tradition of success. I look forward to working more closely with Wolverine member cooperative leaders in the years to come.