MLGW welcomes new Director of Human Resources

 

Please give a warm welcome to Carolyn Petties, our new Director of Human Resources. Her direct reports include Valerie Whitlow, Compensation & HRIS; Eric Conway, ESTA; and Marcus Tate, Benefits.

Petties has 20 plus years of human resources experience in diverse industries including healthcare, financial, logistics and retail. Petties is highly experienced as a strategic, agile, execution focused, SHRM-SCP / SPHR-certified Human Resource leader.

Petties has demonstrated competence in providing proactive, pragmatic solutions and alternatives, leading complex projects and building robust partnerships supporting broad client groups consisting of healthcare clinics, commercial, corporate and matrix operations.

Petties has partnered with executive and senior leadership to drive core business initiatives, including organization transformation, identification and implementation of “cost-savings” and process improvements.

Her career passion has been building transformative human resources teams and influencing organizational cultures where leaders and employees work cohesively to accomplish business objectives and model the organization’s values in service to customers.

Petties is a graduate of the University of Memphis and holds a Bachelor of Business Administration, SHRM Senior Certified Professional and HRCI Senior Professional in Human Resources certifications.

Volunteer Spotlight

 Derek Mitchell: A Man of Many Talents

Derek (R) and Nathalie Quiroz,Water Meter Shop, at Arlington Middle School STEAM Day

Memphis students’ faces light up with fascination and interest as they learn what makes our utility “tick” from the guy who built all the demonstration props that are holding them spellbound. It’s a STEAM day or career day, and these kids are learning, and really enjoying it. Making it interesting is Derek Mitchell, the guy who built the props. He’s a man of many talents and loves to share them. He’s been everywhere man!!

Starting in Corrosion Control and Cathodic Protection, Derek joined MLGW in July 2006. “Yeah, in 2006, someone called me up, asked me would I be interested in working for MLGW,” he recalls. “Another person saw my application and recommended me. The rest is history.” He has also worked in several other areas in the Division. He moved to Electric Ops as an Electronic Instrumentation Technician, then he went to Power and Reliability as an Associate Electrical Engineer. He was hired by Clint Richardson, now retired, to join Residential Services as a Residential Energy Technician. After working in that department, Derek finally settled where he is now, Water Engineering and Operations as an Electronic Instrumentation Technician.

Before coming to MLGW, he completed a four-year Electrical Apprenticeship at IBEW LOCAL 474, then he continued his education, going back to school yet again. This time he went to State Tech (now Southwest Tennessee Community College), and earned three degrees in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering and Telecommunications Engineering. WHEW!

Before joining MLGW, Derek worked in a very diverse background. He was a Licensed Electrician, working for various Electrical Contractors. He worked as a Paralegal for the Tennessee Dept. of Child Services, and he also worked as a Maintenance Mechanic for the Shelby County Sheriff’s Department. As one of Jehovah’s Witnesses, he also got involved in lots of volunteer work, most notably building 20+ Kingdom Halls, many built in the ‘80s and ‘90s in the Memphis area. Derek also had the privilege of working on and remodeling what is the Assembly Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses located on Cleveland in Midtown (formerly known as the Crosstown Theatre). Each of the Kingdom Halls that he worked on took only four days to build. That’s a great background, and he gained experience in construction and electrical work that he would put to good use in the future.

“I learned about volunteering and helping others when a man named Lawrence Straughter studied the Bible with me as a teenager, around 1979.” Derek remembers how Mr. Straughter loved to do volunteer work. “He also taught me how to do construction and maintenance work along with a host of teenagers, recalls Derek. “I come from a very large family – 15 kids! Mr. Straughter was always there, helping us out and taking us with him to do volunteer work on the Kingdom Hall. That’s how I got into doing volunteer work, and I will always remember and appreciate him.”

“I’ve been to a lot of places,” says Derek. “I’ve even done electrical construction work at our World Headquarters of Jehovah’s Witnesses in New York City and surrounding areas. Currently, I work with the Tennessee Regional Building Committee, teaching and training Electrical Maintenance and Safety to volunteers in the southwest part of Tennessee. But I have done volunteer work assignments in other states. Some volunteer disaster projects that I worked on entailed going to Augusta, Georgia, helping to rebuild Kingdom Halls and Homes after a flood came through and wiped out several buildings and neighborhoods. I also got a chance to volunteer when Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans. I am very thankful for my wife’s company and assistance during these projects; she has been a tremendous help. We have been at this as a volunteer couple since 1988,” he adds proudly. What a great relationship.

One of his early volunteer experiences before arriving at MLGW was building a wheelchair accessibility ramp in 2000 for a lady named Angela McGowan. She was handicapped and confined to her house, and she had no ramp for her wheelchair to get out of her house. She approached MLGW’s Wil Williams (retired) and Beverly Phillips (deceased, and truly missed) for assistance. MLGW said they would donate the materials if she could come up with a crew to do the work. “What’s a lady to do if she has no crew?” Derek asks.

Angela made a phone call to Derek, and he got busy. He and some congregational volunteers (“Shout out to retired former MLGW employees Lopez Ward and Sheilah Straughter,” Derek adds.) with several teenage volunteers got down to it and built the lady a ramp. “Those same teenage volunteers were clamoring for more projects to do,” Derek recalls. “Teenagers are full of energy and ready to volunteer. We built the wheelchair ramp enabling Angela to attend college as a computer programmer and attend her congregational meetings as a Jehovah’s Witnesses minister. EVERYONE was happy!” It was his introduction to MLGW’s Residential Services area and everyone in the department including Clint Richardson remembered him.

While working in Residential Services, a friend of Derek’s, “Lonzo,” unfortunately became non-ambulatory and needed a wheelchair accessibility ramp built, too. Once more MLGW provided the materials, and Derek provided a crew of volunteer workers from different congregations, having fun and teaching them as they got the work done. The experience would “bode” him well later in his MLGW career while working in Residential Services as he was heavily involved with several wheelchair ramp-building projects for the Division. He has also done a lot of weatherizing, repair and other construction projects with the department, usually helping out people who were in need.

Much of Derek’s volunteer efforts these days involve talking to students at local schools’ career days or STEAM events, explaining the science and engineering while giving advice to those students interested in utility careers. He’s been doing that since he first arrived at MLGW. It’s inspiring to the students – you can see their eyes light up as Derek demonstrates, using those special props he built himself.

“Yeah, I made all the demo stuff for local school STEAM events,” says Derek. A long-term project he’s doing for Beverly Perkins, Corporate Communications, is a “kid-powered bicycle generator” for school kids. “Hopefully I will get to it sooner than later,” he promises. “I built the demo stuff back in 2008. I built items like the ‘Electrical Briefcase’ (Thanks to MLGW’s Brian Wilson of Central Shops!), and a meter box demonstrator which is a trainer for the kids. It shows them how power is consumed and measured. It is so rewarding to help them learn and be fascinated by it all!”

Any volunteer advice for the rest of us? “There’s more happiness in giving than receiving,” he says. “There’s more reward to be had in helping others! I’ve come to learn that a lot of people need help, and there’s a ton of reward in helping them.” Truer words were never spoken……

Stay safe in extreme heat

An increase temperature often leads to an increase in heat-related illnesses. Prepare yourself to stay healthy this summer.

1.     Check the weather. Watch the news. Be aware of extremely hot weather conditions ahead of time.

2.     Stay hydrated! Drink plenty of water or sports drinks with electrolytes. Remind colleagues to do the same.

3.     Don’t wait until you are thirsty to drink hydrating.

4.     Listen to your body. If you feel lightheaded, sick to your stomach, crampy, clammy/ extremely dry skin, or have blurred vision, STOP WORKING. Take a break!

5.     Wear breathable clothing, and proper PPE when working outside. Don’t rely on a fan as your primary cooling device.

6.     Get plenty of rest in the evenings if you worked in the sun during the day.

7.     Eat healthy. Choose healthy fats, meats, and vegetables. Also, eat less processed, sugary, and fried foods.

8.     Limit your alcoholic beverages, soda, sugary beverages, and cigarette/tobacco/e-cig usage on hot sunny days.

9.     Take proper medication as prescribed and avoid medication that could affect your health in hot climates.

10.  Communicate with your colleagues if you are not feeling your best.

11.  Follow a buddy system and check on your colleagues to make sure they don’t have symptoms of heat-related illness.

Church pays utility bills of over one hundred Millington & Arlington customers

 

 

L to R: Oak Spring Baptist Church Servant Leader Chester Ragland, Pastor Michael Martin and Servant Leader George Wright.

 

Oak Spring Baptist Church believes in “corporate” tithing. Just like they want their 600 members to tithe 10% of their income, the church donates 10% of its income and gives it back into the community.

Just recently, the church gave MLGW’s Gift of Comfort program a $40,000 check. The church selected 103 customers who live in the 38053 ZIP code and paid their utility bills in full.

“Everybody will be starting fresh. Some customers will have money left over in their account with a credit of $55,” said Beverly Perkins, Corporate Social Responsibility, who oversees the program. Perkins said within the past 18 months, Oak Spring has given Gift of Comfort a total of $54,000 to help people with their utility bills.

Oak Spring Pastor Michael Martin explained why: “We just feel it’s the church’s mission to help and support the community-at-large as best as we can. The church is only who she is because of the community.”

In times past, the church has paid winter utility bills for seniors over the age of 70. They didn’t want those on a limited income choosing between paying their utility bill or buying their prescription medicine.

Explained Martin, “It’s just a need we have identified. It doesn’t stop the bleeding, but it does slow it down a little bit.”