MLGW board chair: young, gifted and already at the top
http://tri-statedefenderonline.com/articlelive/articles/4637/1/br-MLGW-board-chair-young-gifted-and-already-at-the-top/Page1.html
By Tri-State Defender Newsroom
Published on 02/18/2010
At age 37, Darrell Cobbins is the youngest person ever to chair the Memphis Light, Gas & Water Board of Commissioners. In this Q&A session, Cobbins discusses this accomplishment and his vision for MLGW.
MLGW board chair: young, gifted and already at the top
Special to the Tri-State Defender
At age 37, Darrell Cobbins is the youngest person ever to chair the Memphis Light, Gas & Water Board of Commissioners. In this Q&A session, Cobbins discusses this accomplishment and his vision for MLGW.
Q: You’re the youngest chair of the MLGW Board of Commissioners. What are your thoughts about that achievement?
A: Well, I consider that an honor, that my fellow commissioners have that level of confidence in me, that trust. Coming onto the Board, when the mayor (former Memphis Mayor Willie Herenton) appointed me, one of the things that he said is that he was trying to place young Memphians in positions of leadership. So that, in years to come, the city could have people who were experienced, developed and trained in making sound decisions for major institutions like MLGW. So, I consider it an honor to be appointed, even more so having the opportunity after two years to serve at this level.
Q: Before you joined the board and now that you’re the head the board, how has your perspective changed?
A: I really value and recognize the work of MLGW as a critical institution to life in Memphis for citizens and businesses at all levels, from issues related to people simply being able to pay their bills to economic development and helping to recruit industry to town. And, at the end of the day, trying to keep rates as manageable as possible so that both businesses and citizens can have a good quality of life. MLGW plays a role in all of those areas and that’s vitally important to the future and the welfare of the city.
Q: How do you see the development of young executives in the city of Memphis? And how is MLGW cultivating that?
A: I would say, over the past 10 years—which is most of my professional life, 10 to 12 years—I’ve seen an increased appreciation for young talent and positioning and valuing young talent for opportunities to lead. By virtue of the mayor asking me to serve—and he made several other appointments of young citizens to other important boards in the city—I think that, in and of itself, signals a paradigm shift in this community where young talent is valued and appreciated. It’s high on the list of important factors for the future of this city.
MLGW has done an excellent job of cultivating talent and providing opportunities for talent to flourish and develop and climb up the ladder through MLGW University, management training programs and some conversations that I think the President [Jerry Collins Jr.] is having with the University of Memphis. . .
As chairman, one of the things that I have talked specifically to the President about is for us to think more intently about the MLGW of the future and what that needs to look like and make sure that we are increasing our ability to be a dynamic organization and innovative.
Q: Speaking of that, how would you envision the MLGW of the future?
A: I would like to see it as a hub of talent and expertise whether it’s engineering, whether it’s finance, whether it’s legal or whether it’s communications—a hub where we attract the best and brightest and those best and brightest have an opportunity to rise up the ladder and either stay here or go off and do greater things in the community.
But by virtue of that talent being here, we are providing a higher level of service. We are bringing innovative approaches and strategies to how we deliver service to our ratepayers. At the end of the day, that makes Memphis better.
Q: As MLGW Chair, what are your primary goals and objectives over the term of your chairmanship?
A: I would like to see us have an improved relationship with our bargaining unit. That is a large segment of our employee base that we have to work closely with and move forward the agenda of ….servicing our customers. I would also like to see the succession of talent within the organization. I would also like to see that supplier diversity—which is doing extremely well now—is doing even better. And we continue to be a leader in our spending and level of support of local, minority and women owned businesses.
And ultimately, at the end of the day, and this sounds sort of general, if I can look back and see that things are better two or so years from now than they were when I took over at the helm I would consider my service to have been worthwhile.
At age 37, Darrell Cobbins is the youngest person ever to chair the Memphis Light, Gas & Water Board of Commissioners. In this Q&A session, Cobbins discusses this accomplishment and his vision for MLGW.
Q: You’re the youngest chair of the MLGW Board of Commissioners. What are your thoughts about that achievement?
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Darrell Cobbins |
Q: Before you joined the board and now that you’re the head the board, how has your perspective changed?
A: I really value and recognize the work of MLGW as a critical institution to life in Memphis for citizens and businesses at all levels, from issues related to people simply being able to pay their bills to economic development and helping to recruit industry to town. And, at the end of the day, trying to keep rates as manageable as possible so that both businesses and citizens can have a good quality of life. MLGW plays a role in all of those areas and that’s vitally important to the future and the welfare of the city.
Q: How do you see the development of young executives in the city of Memphis? And how is MLGW cultivating that?
A: I would say, over the past 10 years—which is most of my professional life, 10 to 12 years—I’ve seen an increased appreciation for young talent and positioning and valuing young talent for opportunities to lead. By virtue of the mayor asking me to serve—and he made several other appointments of young citizens to other important boards in the city—I think that, in and of itself, signals a paradigm shift in this community where young talent is valued and appreciated. It’s high on the list of important factors for the future of this city.
MLGW has done an excellent job of cultivating talent and providing opportunities for talent to flourish and develop and climb up the ladder through MLGW University, management training programs and some conversations that I think the President [Jerry Collins Jr.] is having with the University of Memphis. . .
As chairman, one of the things that I have talked specifically to the President about is for us to think more intently about the MLGW of the future and what that needs to look like and make sure that we are increasing our ability to be a dynamic organization and innovative.
Q: Speaking of that, how would you envision the MLGW of the future?
A: I would like to see it as a hub of talent and expertise whether it’s engineering, whether it’s finance, whether it’s legal or whether it’s communications—a hub where we attract the best and brightest and those best and brightest have an opportunity to rise up the ladder and either stay here or go off and do greater things in the community.
But by virtue of that talent being here, we are providing a higher level of service. We are bringing innovative approaches and strategies to how we deliver service to our ratepayers. At the end of the day, that makes Memphis better.
Q: As MLGW Chair, what are your primary goals and objectives over the term of your chairmanship?
A: I would like to see us have an improved relationship with our bargaining unit. That is a large segment of our employee base that we have to work closely with and move forward the agenda of ….servicing our customers. I would also like to see the succession of talent within the organization. I would also like to see that supplier diversity—which is doing extremely well now—is doing even better. And we continue to be a leader in our spending and level of support of local, minority and women owned businesses.
And ultimately, at the end of the day, and this sounds sort of general, if I can look back and see that things are better two or so years from now than they were when I took over at the helm I would consider my service to have been worthwhile.