Two high-level JEA leaders who were living and working out of state have decided to leave the city-owned utility after it adopted a new policy requiring supervisors to spend at least one day a week in the Jacksonville office.
JEA spokesperson Karen McAllister said Aug. 27 that Helen Materazzi and Stefanie Monroe were no longer with the utility. Materazzi served as JEA’s vice president of people and culture, and Monroe was director of enterprise analytics. Materazzi lives in New Jersey and Monroe in Oklahoma.
McAllister said 20 JEA employees were living out of state when the policy was adopted. All but three were “individual contributors,” meaning no one reported to them. Of the three, one opted to take another role in a nonsupervisory capacity.
JEA made headlines earlier this year when news organizations reported that four of its executives were living out of state. Among them were JEA’s chief strategy officer, Laura Dutton, who had received a 23% pay raise to increase her salary to $383,864 while working from her home in Tennessee. Dutton, whose raise came as JEA was preparing to raise electric rates, resigned in the wake of the publicity.
Under former CEO Jay Stowe, JEA adopted a “Work Where We Work Best” remote-hybrid work policy during the coronavirus pandemic that allowed about half of the headquarters staff to work from home.
The policy helped lead to questions about Stowe’s leadership, as did JEA’s decision to hold a Christmas holiday party for employees at the Florida Theatre at a cost of $72,000.
Stowe stepped down in April 2024. His departure came shortly after the board voted to hire a consultant that would report directly to the board, prompting questions about whether members had lost confidence in Stowe’s leadership.
In June, Vickie Cavey, who had been hired as interim managing director and CEO of JEA, told the utility’s board that administrators had implemented a “return to HQ” program for administrators and office staff that would lead to 75% to 80% of headquarters staff working in person on any given day.
McAllister said JEA employees who work in the field are generally required to live in Florida, save for some who live in Georgia near the Florida state line.