Employment

The Vice President, Operations, is a key member of the Cooperative’s Senior Leadership team, responsible for ensuring the Purchasing and Warehouse, Fleet Services, Technical & Field Services, System Construction & Maintenance, and Building & Grounds departments align with and support the strategic direction of the Cooperative and its broadband subsidiary.

This position leads the planning, organizing, directing and controlling the construction, operation, and maintenance of the electric distribution system in a manner that assures efficient construction and reliable electric service of the highest quality and works to foster a collaborative work environment throughout the organization.

1. Actively participates with the Senior Leadership Team to develop, refine, and implement the strategic plan while ensuring that the division budget, staff, and priorities align with the company’s core mission.
2. Oversees all Operations activities and manages the day-to-day operations to ensure a well-functioning, efficient, and safe organization.
3. Manages the operation, enhancement, and maintenance of the distribution system – in coordination with the Engineering division.
4. Ensure that GreyStone’s electric distribution system reliability is within acceptable ANSI, industry, and RUS standards as measured using reliability indices, including but not limited to SAIDI, CAIDI, and SAIFI as well as established corporate goals – in coordination with the Engineering division.
5. Ensures power speed and safety of power restoration during emergency and large-scale outage situations – in coordination with the Engineering division.
6. Supports outdoor lighting installations – in coordination with the Engineering division.
7. Coordinates joint-use activities with other utilities including engineering, safety inspections, and economics – in coordination with the Engineering division.
8. Develops procedures in collaboration with peers to ensure cost and quality of distribution and line construction, including compliance with required specifications.
9. Oversees contract administration for contractors supporting construction and maintenance of the distribution system.
10. Monitors outage records and ensures corrective actions are taken that will assure GreyStone members receive superior service reliability.
11. Implements routine preventative maintenance program, aligned with industry best practice, to ensures distribution system assets are in proper working condition.
12. Ensures functionality of switching schemes and facilities and that employees responsible for restoration of electric service are familiar with the distribution circuit feeds and locations of system devices – in coordination with the Engineering division.
13. Monitors and inspects meters, CTs, PTs, and multipliers for accuracy and coordinates with the Billing department to ensure correct multiplier factors are used for Member billing.
14. Ensures purchase and warehousing of materials are managed in order to control inventory, maintain adequate supplies of materials, and to assess new materials that may improve work efficiency or reliability.
15. Ensures the Cooperative’s vehicle fleet is maintained appropriately.
16. Coordinates with Commercial Marketing on service to customer choice loads.
17. Assists with development of retail rates for all rate classes as a part of the Retail Rates team.
18. Develops and manages the annual budget and allocation of resources for the Operations division.
19. Manages personnel actions within the division, including hiring, terminations, performance appraisals, and salary recommendations and builds a cohesive, team-oriented department that focuses on meeting the needs of the Cooperative.
20.  Develops, nurtures, and encourages relationships with federal, state, and local officials that will foster solid two-way communication and lend strength to positions held by the Cooperative.

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering or related field.
• Ten years of utility experience preferred.
• Proven expertise in the construction, operation and maintenance of electric distribution system, and organizational planning.
• Experience in managing emergency outage situations to ensure power is restored as safely and quickly as possible.
• Requires a valid State of Georgia driver’s license.
• Must satisfactorily pass employment physical examination and required drug screens.

Critical Thinking Skills

• Energetic, forward-thinking, and creative with high ethical standards.
• Has skills necessary to establish and maintain effective working relationships with people and organizations, demonstrating a strong commitment to the professional development of staff.
• Experienced team builder and leader that will ethically and effectively represent GreyStone in a professional manner at all times, promoting a culture that reflects the company’s values.
• Ability to set clear priorities, delegate, and guide investment in people and systems.
• Keen analytic, organization, and problem-solving skills which support and enable sound decision making.
• Ability to work well in high-pressure situations while maintaining composure and objectivity.
• Ability to identify potential issues or constraints, develop methodologies and approaches to resolve, and select among alternative courses of action quickly and accurately.
• Ability to assimilate complex information and data from various sources and consider, adjust, or modify to meet the constraints of the need.
• Ability to effectively comprehend and clarify concerns and issues expressed by stakeholders.

Financial Management Skills

• Ability to understand financial statements and assess divisional impacts to expenses and the bottom line.
• Ability to understand and monitor variances in actual results to plan.

Technology and Communication Skills

• Proficient command of Office Productivity Suite, including Word, PowerPoint, and Excel skills to prepare business correspondence, reports, and presentations with speed and accuracy.
• Skill in writing grammatically correct routine business correspondence such as letters, emails, meeting minutes, and other documents as required.
• Ability to make oral group presentations to persuade others to accept a specific opinion, action and/or provide information or explain procedures, policies, etc.
• Ability to interact with individuals at all levels and experience in facilitation / resolving conflicts between different parties to a dispute.

This is a diversified job in a general office environment requiring sitting and using a computer as well as requiring sustained mental effort related to public contacts, organizational issues, planning and technical areas, public speaking, and non-standard business hours. Some business travel and occasional driving is required.

Department leadership (managers or directors) of Purchasing/ Warehouse, Fleet Services, Technical & Field Services, System Construction & Maintenance, and Building & Grounds