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The joke around Socorro Electric Co-op has been that their new CEO, Manuel Gonzales, might need new tennis shoes because he has hit the ground running. By his second day on the job, Gonzales had already met with the Mayor of Socorro, Ravi Bhasker.
“We’ve already shook hands, and our relationship is going forward,” Gonzales said.
He said the mayor and his staff were welcoming, and the meeting was overwhelmingly positive. Gonzales viewed the meeting with the mayor as a constructive start to building a strong working relationship between the co-op and the city of Socorro, based on open communication and a shared commitment to the community.
“They care for the community. The mayor had questions that should be answered. He’s a member. He’s a mayor for the City of Socorro, so you answer the questions and I love feedback, whether it’s critical, because it allows us to stay on our toes,” Gonzales said.
He said that to get a sense of SEC, he had interviewed all the employees at Socorro Electric Co-op, and some of the conversations have been up to two hours long.
“So the first thing is employees, because I believe the big return, no matter what happens in the boardroom, whether the strategy and all that develops and it’s improved, we count on the employees to carry it out,” Gonzales said, “So simultaneously, since I am a journeyman also and have the field experience as I go out, I’ve been out on outages already having that experience, I can see different visions.”
Feedback from members is also his priority. He recognized the need for better communication with members, especially during outages and with the Public Regulations Commission, local officials and the newspaper.
All of it is in an effort to collect information that he can put together to develop strategy maps and goals. Updating technology and infrastructure and having things like a fleet mechanic in-house and a mobile station are also on his list of priorities.
Magdalena Townhall
The day after Christmas, Gonzales had a meeting with Magdalena Co-op members that he felt gave him the opportunity to directly engage with the community and provide transparency about the ongoing infrastructure projects and frequent power outages.
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At the meeting, he explained the recent outages were related to the 69kV line rebuild project. He discussed how the cooperative had to be very methodical to avoid further disruptions, as they were working with high-voltage 69kV sub-transmission lines.
According to Gonzales, by the end of February, the Magdalena members should start seeing the benefits of the new infrastructure, with the expectation of much more reliable power for the next 50 to 60 years. After the new infrastructure is in place, the co-op will focus on removing and retiring the old equipment, which will not involve any power outages.
At the meeting, one co-op member said her mother’s funeral was on the next scheduled power outage, so Gonzales canceled the outage.
“Only in rural America will you know that there’s a funeral, and we want to
respect it,” Gonzales said, “Unnecessary outages are unacceptable…I can’t undo what has been done already with the outages. But I said, here’s what our members asked of us, and as the CEO and their voice, we want no less than five days notification so we can get the information to the members that will be affected. So as a result of that, that funeral is not going to be disrupted by an outage.”
About Gonzales
Gonzales was born and raised in Wilcox, Arizona, is a Marine reservist and has 29 years’ experience at the Sulfur Spring Valley Electric Co-op.
“I was introduced to the co-op world, and then decided to take a job as a temporary digging ditches and substations and then repairing transformers. And then the full time position was offered, and the co-op world was explained to me about their not for profit. They’re involved in the community. And I was like, ‘Wow, that’s pretty awesome,’” Gonzales said.
He said early in his career, the co-op principals resonated with him, and he admires that the formation of co-ops was driven by rural people who banded together to establish their own power lines and infrastructure.
“I just progressed from digging ditches to meter reading, billing, collections, advanced marine infrastructure, a journeyman program, a manager, then a vice president. At the same time, I was progressing through the ranks of the Marines deployed overseas for the war in Iraq, security operations in Djibouti, the war in Afghanistan, trained the anti-Narco terrorists in Columbia to be to be able to sustain their operations,” Gonzales said.
He also earned a technical associate’s degree in electric power technology from Bismarck State and went to the University of Arizona for a bachelor’s degree in organizational leadership, followed by a Master’s from Arizona State University.
Gonzales believes his diverse background in the cooperative industry, the military and the local community provides him with a well-rounded set of experiences that should serve him well in his new role as CEO of Socorro Electric Cooperative. He wants the community to know that he is available to answer any questions.
