John Twitty’s career path took a few turns early on, leading him from teaching to becoming general manager of City Utilities of Springfield. He says, however, that motivation is a common link between these seemingly disparate fields.
“If you’re an educator, you’re about motivation, and motivation is needed everywhere you go,” Twitty says.
Twitty made the transition into the world of utilities when he applied for a job with Rolla Municipal Utilities in 1983. After serving as business manager and general manager, he moved to Springfield and joined City Utilities in 1991 as its director of consumer affairs. In the next 10 years, he held a variety of responsibilities: manager of customer development, associate general manager, senior manager of customer relations and communications and deputy general manager/chief operating officer. He has served as general manager and CEO since 2002.
Twitty says he enjoys the unique challenges running a community utility company.
“It’s a nice blend of public service because they’re publicly owned, and it’s operated like a business, so you get that nice mix of free enterprise and public enterprise,” he says, adding later, “We exist for one purpose: to serve our customers.”
During his tenure at CU, Twitty’s tasks have included negotiation of new union agreements, revised nonunion salary and benefits plans, and a long-term power supply agreement.
“In 28 years, there’s not been very many dull days,” says Twitty, who plans to retire in June 2011.
Ensuring people have seamless access to the services they need – electricity, natural gas, broadband or a bus ride – is sometimes challenging, Twitty says, pointing to the 2007 ice storm that left much of the city in the dark for as long as two weeks.
While challenges on that scale are rare, there are hurdles on the horizon, including analyzing federal environmental and energy regulations and getting the new Southwest Power Plant Unit 2 up and running.
Construction of the 300-megawatt, $697 million plant took four years, with completion in late 2010. After testing and commissioning, Southwest II was slated to be fully commercially operational by January 2011. The power station was financed by 30-year revenue bonds.
Twitty serves on the North American Electric Reliability Corp.’s member representatives committee and on the boards of directors for numerous entities, including Empire Bank, Springfield Business Development Corp., St. John’s Health System and the Partnership Industrial Center West Administrative Council.
He says he looks forward to continuing to meet CU’s challenges head-on until his retirement.
“Providing a service that people arguably cannot live modern life without – it’s a heck of a responsibility, but it’s a pretty special opportunity,” Twitty says.
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