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April 17, 2006 | AECI recognizes employees who Excel Contact : Nancy Southworth Photos available electronically. Contact lputman@aeci.org. Five employees from Thomas Hill Energy Center recently received prestigious Excel awards from Associated Electric Cooperative Inc. in a ceremony at the wholesale power supplier’s Springfield, Mo., headquarters. Nominated by their peers and selected for the awards were Larry Bagby, Distinguished Service Award; Mark Cunningham, Employee of the Year in a Vocational Field; Kim Dickerson, Employee of the Year in a Professional Field; Mike Giovanini, Supervisor of the Year; Donna Ingebritson, Employee of the Year in a Secretarial or Clerical Field; and Bill Nanneman, Award for Outstanding Community Service. AECI’s Excel program recognizes employees for their outstanding contributions to the cooperative and their communities. Awards were given for achievements in 2005 with the exception of the Distinguished Service Award, which recognized sustained excellence and contributions.
Larry Bagby receives Distinguished Service Award for exemplary career Larry Bagby, who recently retired as Thomas Hill Energy Center’s instrumentation superintendent, received AECI’s Distinguished Service Award for a 33-year career dedicated to continually helping research and implement changes that improved the efficient operation of the generating units. Efficient operations of the units is among AECI’s top strategic objectives, and Bagby has played an instrumental role in researching and implementing changes that improved efficiencies, said Jim Jura, AECI’s general manager and CEO, during the awards presentation. A major improvement during Bagby’s tenure was changing all three units from pneumatic air controls to a distributed control system, which helps operators monitor and fine-tune operation of the units. During his career, Bagby has been recognized with AECI’s 1995 Excel Employee of the Year in a Technical Field for his work on the distributed control system, which was completed on time and with very few problems. And, in 1998, he was selected to receive the Excel Award for Outstanding Community Service. For more than 20 years, he coached basketball and baseball for Moberly and Macon youth. With retirement, Bagby said he plans to play a lot of golf, but he also is continuing to help coach the high school baseball team and American Legion baseball in Macon.
Mark Cunningham named Employee of the Year in a Vocational Field Journeyman electrician specialist Mark Cunningham was nominated and selected as the 2005 Employee of the Year in a Vocational Field due to his expertise with the plant’s electrostatic precipitators, or ESPs, which are part of the environmental controls on the plant that improve emissions. Cunningham’s nominator praised his eagerness to continue learning and applying his knowledge to improve efficiency of the units. His knowledge of the ESPs and trouble-shooting skills in particular paid off for AECI last year when he identified a problem that was preventing the precipitator plates from being properly cleaned, which as a result was forcing the units to decrease production. The precipitator removes fine particles from the exhaust air to prevent them from exiting the stack. Cunningham revealed the culprit was the “address” or location of the large hammers inside the precipitators. The manufacturer applied Mark’s suggestions in the changes they made to fix the problem. After his ideas and suggestions had been implemented, Cunningham’s nominator wrote, “THEC has reached exceptional opacity performance, and baseline opacity has decreased on all three units.”
Kim Dickerson selected as Employee of the Year in a Professional Field Receiving the 2005 Employee of the Year in a Professional Field award was Kim Dickerson, principal environmental coordinator at Thomas Hill. Nominated by her peers, Dickerson was selected for her leadership in maintaining plant compliance with state and federal environmental regulations for air, water and solid waste. Dickerson manages the Power Division’s plantwide, on-going requirements for routine inspections, collections of groundwater and other samples and reporting, said CEO and General Manager Jim Jura during the awards presentation. According to her nominator, “She has been invaluable in recognizing and addressing numerous environmental issues, such as the disposal of boiler cleaning chemicals and daily review of the continuous emissions monitoring system.” Evidenced by the environmental manuals and reports she refers to each day that line her office bookshelves, Dickerson dedicates countless hours to staying on top of environmental regulations and trains other employees on maintaining AECI’s environmental compliance.
Mike Giovanini earns Supervisor of the Year award Receiving the 2005 Supervisor of the Year award was Mike Giovanini, revegetation supervisor at Thomas Hill Energy Center Mining Division. Perhaps the best proof of his outstanding supervision is the amazing accomplishments of his crew the past 26 years, Jura said. “Mike has worked successfully to reclaim approximately 12,000 acres of land disturbed by mining.” Nearly half of AECI’s mining land is now reclaimed and can be released back to its original landowners. Giovanini is especially proud of the progress he and his employees made last year at the NEMO mine location, which now lacks only about 100 acres before it’s completely reclaimed. That’s especially significant, considering it’s the work of just eight people under his supervision. Nominators said accomplishments of that magnitude prove his ability to draw out the best from each one of his employees. “Mike knows the strengths of each employee and he channels those strengths to achieve the maximum productivity from everyone he supervises. He has earned the respect and admiration of his entire staff by listening, making tough decisions and directing his staff to work as a coordinated team.” Giovanini is committed to the safety of his crew and to the group’s weekly safety training. As a result, his department has achieved an eight-year record for working safely.
Donna Ingebritson lauded with 2005 Employee of the Year in a Clerical or Secretarial Field Donna Ingebritson, an office associate II in the warehouse at Thomas Hill, received AECI’s Excel Award for Employee of the Year in a Clerical or Secretarial Field. Efficient. Productive. And most of all, a team player. These are the high standards Ingebritson’s nominator said she sets for herself to help her achieve the goals of her department and the plant as well. Most workdays 30 to 40 or more invoices come across Ingebritson’s desk. Many of them are for parts that arrive at the warehouse and are easy to reconcile with their purchase orders, although others are for service work scheduled by departments throughout the plant. Before she can send them to AECI’s Headquarters to be paid, these must first be checked by supervisors throughout the plant, requiring her to be very efficient and organized, as well as an excellent communicator. Ingebritson helped ensure every invoice was paid on time last year. “This has been a tremendous accomplishment, and one that can be attributed to Donna’s hard work and dedication, quick processing methods, communication with all department heads and having a close working relationship with Accounts Payable,” said her nominator.
Bill Nanneman earns 2005 Award for Outstanding Community Service Chemical Lab Technician Bill Nanneman was recognized with the 2005 Award for Outstanding Community Service for his efforts to assist victims during Hurricane Katrina. His nominator said Nanneman is admired for his selfless dedication in this time of crisis. And, even though he didn’t have friends or relatives in the hurricane’s pathway, Nanneman said that didn’t matter. When asked what motivated him to go, he said, “I’ve got my health, and I felt fortunate to be able to help.”
AECI is owned by and provides wholesale power to six regional and 51 local electric cooperative systems in Missouri, northeast Oklahoma and southeast Iowa that serve more than 800,000 customers. AECI's mission is to provide an economical and reliable power supply and support services to its members with the vision of being the nation's lowest-cost wholesale power supplier. AECI is a Touchstone Energy Cooperative. Released: 17 April 2006
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