Kelly Tomblin said she spent part of her more than 25-year career in the energy industry as a company turnaround specialist.
But that’s not why she took the job as El Paso Electric’s new chief executive officer.
El Paso Electric is a strong company with a great strategic plan, said Tomblin, who has been chief executive at two other electric utilities— in Pennsylvania, early in her career, and more recently in Jamaica. Those are just part of her lengthy resume.
“Where I am in my career now, is taking what is and just catapulting it to be better and happen faster,” she said in a recent telephone interview from El Paso Electric’s Downtown headquarters.
“So, I think you’re going to see us (EPE) continue on our path. And I’m really excited about the strategic plan that’s already in place. So, in no way, do I believe this is a turnaround (job).”
"I think we're strong, but (we) always have room for improvement."
Her first steps will be to "put together an on-fire leadership team," she said.
Tomblin was named CEO July 29 — the day Infrastructure Investments Fund, or IIF, a $12.5 billion, JPMorgan Chase-tied investment fund, completed its purchase of El Paso's 117-year-old electric utility for $4.3 billion.
Privately held company can move faster, new CEO says
The sale to the privately held IIF took El Paso Electric’s stock off the New York Stock Exchange, where it had been publicly traded for more than 70 years.
“I think you have more freedom and more control when you’re privately owned,” and can move faster, Tomblin said. “But I haven’t been privy to any challenges that we (EPE) were having related to public ownership either.”
As a private company, EPE no longer will file quarterly and annual financial reports with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which removes some of its public transparency, one thing noted by some critics of the sale to IIF.
The utility is an important company for this region, not only because it provides electricity for about 436,000 customers in the El Paso and Las Cruces, New Mexico areas, but also because with about 1,100 employees, it's one of the area's largest private employers.
It also has large financial resources with annual revenues of more than $861 million, and a profit of $123 million in 2019.
Interim CEO Adrian Rodriguez plans to leave company
Tomblin officially becomes CEO Sept. 1. But she already was in El Paso July 31 to talk to El Paso Electric executives, and to hold a telephonic town hall with about 800 employees. The COVID-19 world did not allow for an in-person town hall, she said.
About 60 percent of the company's workforce has been working from home since March 16 due to pandemic restrictions.
Tomblin also met with El Paso Mayor Dee Margo and El Paso County Judge Ricardo Samaniego.
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She replaces Adrian Rodriguez, EPE's general counsel, who became interim CEO Aug. 1, 2020 after Mary Kipp, EPE's first woman CEO, left to head Puget Sound Energy in the Seattle area. Rodriguez plans to leave EPE after helping Tomblin transition into her new job.
Her annual salary as CEO has not been reported. But Kipp had a base salary of $760,000 for 2019. She had total compensation of $3.47 million, including stock awards, company reports show. Rodriguez had a base salary as interim CEO of $400,000, and total compensation in 2019 of $1.25 million.
Tomblin will leave her current, 3-year-old job at the end of August as CEO of INTREN, an Illinois company that builds transmission lines, substations, pipelines and other infrastructure for electric and natural gas utilities nationwide.
Seeking board position turned into El Pas Electric CEO interview
Tomblin first came to El Paso weeks ago to interview for one of the new company board positions, but the interview unexpectedly switched to the CEO job, she said.
She warmed to the idea of being CEO because she liked the passion she saw from company executives and liked EPE’s plans for the future, including developing more renewable energy, moving toward a smarter power grid, and supporting El Paso economic development, she said.
After spending a few days in El Paso during the interview process, she found she liked the people she met, and liked the mountainous geography in El Paso and New Mexico, the other part of EPE’s service territory.
“I liked it, and felt strangely at home,” Tomblin said.
Primer: What does El Paso Electric sale mean for customers, community?
Frank Cassidy, a 40-year veteran of the electric and gas industry, and new EPE board chairman, in a statement called Tomblin a "dynamic and accomplished leader."
"Kelly's executive experience, proven track-record of improving safety and commitment to our vision of innovation make her the ideal leader for this important time in EPE's history," Cassidy said.
Life began in West Virginia coal country
The energy business runs through Tomblin’s blood.
She's the oldest of four children of a former coal miner in the tiny Appalachian town of Man, West Virginia.
“We were the Man High Hillbillies,” Tomblin said with a laugh. “Yes I was a cheerleader.”
She met her husband, Steve Morgan, a now-retired electric utility executive, when the company he worked for was buying the company Tomblin worked for, she said.
“We had synergies after that. We’re an energy family,” she said. The couple has two sons, ages 15 and 23.
Tomblin received a law degree from the West Virginia University College of Law, and spent several years as a lawyer for utility companies, including Pennsylvania Electric Co., or Penelec, where she became president in the late 1990s, when she was in her 30s.
She grew to love the energy business because "it makes me feel we're doing something that really, really matters."
People person challenged to find new ways in COVID-19 era
Tomblin said she's not a "technical person," but a leader who has a passion for developing employees' talents.
She's co-authored two books tied around 100 leadership topics she developed while CEO of Jamaica Public Service Company from 2012-2017.
The books are aimed at developing a "leadership model that not only gets the work done, but gets it done so it doesn't leave a weight behind you," Tomblin said. "I want to make sure people feel better about leaving work than they did coming (to work)."
Tomblin has a "very hands on" leadership style.
"I like to see people, meet people, hug people, and in a time of change that's really important. But given the COVID situation, we're not able to do that," she said. "So, I'll just have to figure out how I do it a different way."
Vic Kolenc may be reached at 546-6421; vkolenc@elpasotimes.com; @vickolenc on Twitter.
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