Engineer Manager
Resume:
DENNIS GENE ASTLEY
Pueblo West, CO 81007
JOB OBJECTIVE: Power System Engineer
Education: Graduated from Lamar University with a Bachelor of Science
degree in
Electrical Engineering in December 1989.
Graduate of the Robert I. Kabat Management Internship
Program
Graduate of the NRECA CEO Leadership Lab
Currently a Registered Professional Engineer, by exam, in the states of
Texas and Colorado
Chief Operating Officer for San Isabel Electric Association in Pueblo West
Colorado Feb 2011 - April 2015 )
Accomplishments Include:
Management of a department of almost 50 people including staking engineers,
meter technicians, a staff engineer and line workers that cover three
divisions. The cooperative has upgraded to a modern GIS package and is
preparing to deploy it with the crews.
San Isabel Electric Association now uses a line contracting bid process
where the bidder bids on a unit and we assign work to the contractor as
needed. With my direction, San Isabel Electric Association has developed a
water heater program that is increasing energy sales to offset the loss of
interest in the ETS program. During my tenure, San Isabel Electric
completed an overhaul of retail rates to match the new wholesale rate
design. As leader of the rate committee, the engineering and operations
team developed a spreadsheet to analyze the impact of retail rates on
revenue using the previous year usage. Using this spreadsheet, the General
Manager and I developed the retail rates currently in use.
Working with our Staff Engineer, we were able to justify the construction
of an additional substation in Pueblo West that will pay for itself by
reduction of losses in less than 10 years.
When a large industrial consumer visits with questions and concerns, I
participate in those meetings with the manager and key account manager and
usually answer the questions that related to how the rates and charges are
justified. When a wind developer wanted to connect turbines to our system,
I led the writing of the power purchase agreement and compiled the
interconnection agreement.
Previously employed as Manager of Engineering for Jo-Carroll Energy in
Elizabeth Illinois (July 2009 - Feb 2011)
Accomplishments Include:
Successful deployment of a SCADA system by Survalent. Successful
deployment of an AMI system by Cooper Power Systems (formerly Cannon
Technologies). Jo-Carroll Energy acquired the Illinois assets of Alliant
Energy several years ago and has undergone some painful growth. The
acquired assets were in need of significant improvement and standardization
and additional staffing has been necessary to handle the work load. We
moved past the pilot phases of SCADA and AMI and started full deployment of
each - all while installing broadband service for the members that would
also carry data for cooperative purposes. I also had the responsibility of
monitoring all of the NERC reliability traffic and attempting to maintain
compliance since our acquired assets also classified us as a Load Serving
Entity.
I led the team in planning the design of how to serve a federal supermax
prison facility that was planned in our service territory. The Army Corps
of Engineers was tasked with conversion of a new state prison to a federal
supermax that would require extensive electrical facility upgrades. We had
a single day to meet management requirements for a plan and successfully
did so.
We worked with a large chemical facility on upgrades to meet their growing
needs while upgrading and maintaining neglected facilities acquired from
Alliant Energy.
Previously employed by North Western Electric Cooperative in Bryan, Ohio as
President. October 2001-July 2009
Accomplishments Included:
Executive Management of an electric power distribution cooperative serving
almost 6,000 meters that is predominately residential. The cooperative
also serves several large industrial/commercial consumers and two schools.
After careful consideration of the benefits to the community, the
cooperative diversified to offer a long-distance telephone service and
WildBlue internet service. We worked to get special discounts from local
service providers for cooperative members who subscribed to wireless
internet that was faster and cheaper than WildBlue. The cooperative offers
Operation Round-Up and reached the milestone of more than $100,000 donated
back to the community during my tenure. Under my direction, we developed a
management team that worked well together and allowed the cooperative to
smoothly operate when individual members of the management team are away
from the office. Some of the accomplishments that I made with the Board of
Trustees were: A rate re-design to minimize the impact of weather on
revenue, a rate increase, a strategic plan with a follow-up four years
later, a venture into offering WildBlue internet, and compliance with OSHA
requirements. North Western Electric Cooperative has 19 employees and is
safety accredited. The cooperative was number one in the state for member
satisfaction and continued to do so even with a rate increase. The
cooperative was fiscally sound with an equity level approved by the Board
of Trustees and a capital credit rotation of approximately 18 years. By
implementing an aggressive, carefully prepared work plan, we were able to
maintain a very high reliability and minimal power outages. Under my
leadership, North Western Electric Cooperative met the NRECA goal of 4.4 %
membership in ACRE/COPA by promoting Coop Owners for Political Action. Our
grassroots efforts provided hundreds of letters to elected officials during
a call to action.
During my tenure I had the privilege of working with a large dairy owner on
the installation of a methane digester and the cogeneration facilities that
it powered. We successfully navigated the retail/wholesale power supply
requirements and rate issues so that he could operate his generation
equipment as a power supply to Buckeye rather than a self-generation
system.
I also worked with a group that was planning the construction of an ethanol
plant. One of the investors already operated an ethanol plant in Indiana
and I visited it to learn more about the operation. I helped the
developers with transmission planning and sizing requirements. I developed
a retail rate for them with an explanation of a pass-through rate from
Buckeye Power.
I sat on the Board of Trustees for Buckeye Power, United Utility Supply and
the Board of Directors for the Williams County Economic Development
Corporation.
Previously employed by Wabash County REMC in Wabash, Indiana as Chief
Executive Officer: January 2000 - September 2001
This cooperative was approximately 5,500 meters and I was there less than 2
years. The reason for leaving this position was political strife among the
directors that started when I was selected to be CEO instead of the Board
President. My most notable achievement at Wabash County REMC was
successful negotiation of a three-year union contract.
Previously employed by Pioneer Electric Cooperative Inc. in Ulysses, Kansas
as Manager of
Engineering Services: April 1995 - January 2000
During my tenure, the cooperative was experiencing a tremendous growth in
consumers and sales of energy. The load served was predominately
commercial oil field and agricultural in the form of center pivot
sprinklers. As the first degreed engineer on staff, I was able to bring a
lot of the work performed by consultants in-house and we were better able
to respond to requests for service to large commercial accounts. As a
member of the five-person management team, I was able to learn about
financial and marketing aspects of the cooperative business and expand my
education through completion of the NRECA Management Internship Program.
During my time at Pioneer Electric, I:
Digitized the system map so that updates could be easily accomplished and
the map could be color coded for ease of reading.
Constructed a computer model of the vast distribution system for in-house
load and fault studies.
Hired an additional staking engineer.
Supervised an engineering department of 5 employees.
Prepared a 4-year workplan.
Participated in the design of a new headquarters complex.
Worked with numerous oil and gas companies on their electrical needs.
Assisted a carbon plant in reviewing their electrical facilities with an
infra-red camera.
Worked with large cattle and swine operations on electrical needs of their
feed mills and reducing their power factor penalty.
Previously employed by South Texas Electric Cooperative Inc. in Nursery,
Texas as Planning Engineer: September 1990 - April 1995
Duties included performing power flow studies using Electrocon and PSS/E
and submitting data to ERCOT for coordinated transmission studies. As part
of a small engineering team I performed many duties from substation meter
reads to power plant control software programming to various design
projects. I represented the G&T on 5 ERCOT task forces at the time.
I worked with our communications consultant in planning of the microwave
system expansion that included the distribution substations. Another
communications project I managed was the installation of the PBX system.
Personal: Age 50; married - four children; willing to relocate.
References:
Randy Bryan; Retired Right-of-Way Manager for San Isabel Electric
Association, Walsenburg, CO 719-***-****. Mr Bryan was part of my team
at San Isabel until a recent early retirement offer was extended.
Mike Mansour; Consulting Engineer for Exponential Engineering, Ft. Collins,
CO
970-***-****. Mr Mansour is our representative from a Colorado
consulting firm and I have worked with him on several projects.
Allyn Svoboda; Retired Staff Engineer for San Isabel Electric Association,
Pueblo West, CO 719-***-****. Mr Svoboda was part of my team at San
Isabel until a recent early retirement offer was extended.
Billie Jean Cortese; President of Pueblo West Band Boosters, Pueblo West,
CO 719-***-****
Mrs. Cortese is the President of an organization in which my wife and I are
actively involved.
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