A JEA search committee on Thursday narrowed its list of candidates to replace CEO Jim Dickenson from six to two, including the utility’s chief financial officer.
Joseph Belechak, former Westinghouse Electric Co. senior vice president for nuclear fuels, and JEA CFO Paul McElroy received majority votes from the committee.
They will interview July 12 with the full JEA board of directors and make a presentation to the board July 13 during a public hearing to detail their plans for the JEA, the seventh-largest community-owned electric utility in the U.S.
“We have to be mindful of the fact that our executive management team will have a lot of possible retirements over the next three to four years, so this person will have to bring together and keep a strong team to lead JEA,” said Ron Townsend, the board member who chairs the search committee.
“We are not trying to fix anything at JEA, we are just trying to build on what we have,” he said.
The committee, comprising Townsend, Cynthia Austin, Mike Hightower and Ashton Hudson, agreed at the beginning of the search process that an applicant would need a majority vote from the committee to be considered by the full board of directors.
Belechak received votes from all four committee members and McElroy received votes from Townsend, Hudson and High-tower.
Charles Black, former president of Tampa Electric Co. and currently an independent consultant for Black & Black Consulting Services, received two votes. High-tower asked the board to consider adding him to the final group.
“I think his experience would bring a perspective that we don’t have and I’d like to see it,” said Hightower.
There was an opportunity to nudge Black into the majority. Austin, Hightower and Hudson voted for three applicants, but Townsend voted for two and decided not to change his vote.
“We could have brought them all back, but the two candidates we selected were the strongest, the strongest from inside the company and outside of the company,” said Townsend.
Dickenson, JEA CEO and managing director, announced his intention to retire at the Jan. 17 JEA board meeting, although
the board extended his Aug. 3 contract expiration to February.
Soon after Dickenson, 60, announced his retirement, the search committee engaged Mycoff, Fry & Prouse LLC, a national utility executive search firm, to help identify candidates for the position.
“Our work is just beginning. We still have a very important decision to make,” said Hudson.
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