Five JEA executive team members left the utility Monday as new CEO Paul McElroy continues to "focus on operational efficiency and customer satisfaction."
"In order to streamline JEA without as long a transition period as originally planned, five members of the executive team are departing as of December 10," McElroy said in a news release issued late Monday.
Those who left were Susan Hughes, chief human resources officer; Scott Kelly, vice president of water and wastewater; Marlene Murphy-Roach, vice president of customer relationships; Greg Perrine, vice president of shared services; and Athena Mann, vice president of environmental services.
McElroy appointed three directors Monday to serve as senior executives to assist in the organizational transition. They are:
• Walette Stanford, director of emerging workforce strategies. She will be responsible for human resources.
• Sheila Pressley, director of meter reading and billing. She will be responsible for customer relationships.
• John McCarthy, director of procurement services. He will be responsible for shared services.
Executive positions that are open include chief customer officer, chief human resources officer and chief financial officer.
Also, Brian Roche was promoted to vice president and general manager of water and wastewater systems. Roche previously served JEA as head of the Financial Planning, Budgets and Rates Division.
"Now JEA is set to move forward to accomplish our goal of improving customer satisfaction," McElroy said in the release.
Roche joins an executive management team that includes Mike Brost, electric system vice president and general manager; Ted Hobson, chief of audit, risk and compliance; Wanyonyi Kendrick, chief information officer; and Bud Para, chief public affairs officer.
McElroy, the immediate past CFO, was appointed CEO on Sept. 7 by the JEA board of directors. On Nov. 20, JEA launched a search for a new CFO. The application deadline for the position is Friday.
McElroy said he created the chief customer officer position to help the utility improve its customer service.
The J.D. Power and Associates "2012 Electric Utility Residential Customer Satisfaction Study, South Region: Midsize Segment," ranked JEA last out of 31 utilities. McElroy said it was a priority to raise the utility's ranking in the 2013 review.
"We don't pay to participate in that survey, so we really don't know what types of questions they ask or how large the test audience is," former JEA CEO Jim Dickenson said in 2011 when asked about JEA being ranked 31 of 32 utilities that year.
The publication states it measures customer satisfaction by examining power quality and reliability, price, billing and payment, corporate citizenship, communications and customer service.
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