September 2008 Volume 21, Issue 9 Orienteering 101: Meet the Member Services Department Scott Tolleson Eric Groom

Transcription

1 Municipal Gas Authority of Georgia September 2008 Volume 21, Issue 9 CityGate News Orienteering 101: Meet the Member Services Department by Carol Vasilik, Support Specialist Scott Tolleson Scott holds the position of Manager, Member Support and has been with the Gas Authority for just over 12 years. He has held several positions since his hire date in 1996 including Financial Analyst until 1999, Manager of Finance until 2000, when he moved into his current position. Scott is our jack of all trades and our go-to guy here at the Gas Authority. He supervises the Member Services team of analysts and does anything and everything he can to support our Members. Scott graduated from Georgia College and holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree. Scott is a Georgia native and grew up in Covington. He currently resides in Oxford with his wife Kristi and their sons Zach (6) and Harrison (4). Contents Special Interest Articles Orienteering Meet the Member Services Department 1 In Every Issue Marketer Pricing 7 Spot Supplies 7 Employee Spotlight 7 Gas Authority Contacts 8 Monthly Calendar 8 A little known fact about Scott is that he was the victim of an armed robbery while attending college. Thankfully he survived that ordeal. Eric Groom Eric holds the position of Regional Manager and has been with the Gas Authority for 10 years. Eric was originally in the Operations Department as a Supply & Capacity Planning Analyst until 2000 when he moved into an open position in Member Services as a Business Analyst. Over the years Eric has been promoted from Business Analyst I to Business Analyst II to Senior Business Analyst and finally in 2007 to Regional Manager. Eric is the main contact for our South Georgia and Texas Eastern Members. He spends his time keeping our Members well informed on issues and opportunities in the natural gas industry. Eric graduated in 1992 from the University of Florida with a degree in Finance. He grew up in Tallahassee, Florida and currently lives in Thomasville, Georgia with his wife Myrna and sons Jackson (9), Carter (7) and Hayden (3). A little known fact about Eric is that he is a self-proclaimed Pokemon expert! continued on page 2 sep08.indd 1 9/19/2008 9:14:02 AM

2 2 Orienteering 101: Meet the Member Services Department continued from page 1 Yolanda Santiago-White Yolanda holds the position of Senior Communications Coordinator and has been with the Gas Authority for 10 years. Yolanda s original title was Communications Coordinator and was promoted to her current title in Yolanda keeps extremely busy assisting Members with their customer communications, supporting the Gas Authority staff with communications efforts, providing training support for all departments and her biggest project is the Gas Authority s Annual Report. Scott Tolleson Yolanda holds a Bachelor of Journalism degree from the University of Missouri from where she graduated in She was born in Brooklyn, NY and raised in Wilmington, DE before relocating to Kennesaw, Georgia with her husband, Don. They have two boys, David (11) and Colby (7) that keep them very busy with activities. They also share their home with an 18 year old kitty, a 2 year old pup and a goldfish named Goldie. Yolanda s hobbies include, RVing (in a 5 th -wheel), travel, hiking, fishing, scrapbooking, sewing and woodburning. A little known fact about Yolanda is that she has visited 47 of 50 states, she still needs to get to Washington and Alaska. Yolanda has also had the privilege of traveling to China, Egypt and extensively throughout Europe and Great Britain. She would love the opportunity for world travel again in the future. Eric Groom Rachel Reaid Rachel holds the position of Senior Meeting Planner and joined the Gas Authority 16 years ago. Rachel began her career at the Gas Authority as the Receptionist in 1992, one year later moved to the Market Development department as a Market Development Assistant. She eventually took the Meeting Planner position in Being a Meeting Planner is all about the details and Rachel is an ace! She organizes almost all of the meetings and events that are held from year-to-year within the organization including many different Member events, internal functions and Board sessions. Her duties include contract negotiation, budget management, meeting communications and on-site planning. Yolanda Santiago-White Rachel graduated from Galilee Christian School in 1990 and earned a Licensed Certification in Computer Science from the University of Phoenix. She was born and raised in the heart of Cajun country in Houma, Louisiana and grew up fishing and trawling for shrimp in the bayous with my Paw- Paw and Maw-Maw. Her dad is a Baptist minister, and relocated the family to Pensacola, Florida, and later to Dallas, Georgia, where he is currently a Pastor. Rachel met her husband, Michael, in their church, and they were married in They have two adorable daughters, Victoria (10), and Lindsey (6). The girls latest, ongoing mission is begging Michael for a dog, but (Daddy) won t give in yet, so for right now, the girls get to feed the fish. Rachel enjoys playing the piano, cooking, reading, coke floats and anything from Starbucks! She admits however that her favorite thing is being a mom, which is the greatest job she s ever had with the most rewarding pay! Rachel says her life is pretty much an open book, but one of the little known facts continued on page 3 sep08.indd 2 9/19/2008 9:14:03 AM

3 Orienteering 101: Meet the Member Services Department continued from page 2 3 that most people don t know about her is that she is a Star Wars fan and as any self-respecting member of the Hyperspace Club, she has her very own light saber! Becky Fuller Becky is the Gas Authority s Executive Secretary and also has 10 years of tenure. Becky was originally hired as the Senior Secretary for the Finance Department in 1998 and became Executive Secretary to the Gas Authority officers in Her responsibilities are mainly to support the Executive staff, Operations and Member Services, with the occasional request for help from the Finance Department. Becky attended Executive Secretarial School and graduated in Born in Dublin, Texas Becky grew up in Farmers Branch, a suburb of Dallas before marrying her husband, Randy, in 1985 and moving to Georgia in Becky and Randy have two kids, Molli and Aaron and two of the sweetest grandbabies, Riley (6) and Mira (3). They currently share their home with a black Labrador retriever named Harley. Becky s hobbies include travel (both by car and motorcycle), being involved with their church and spending time with friends and family. In 2006, Becky and Randy toured 14 states in 14 days, riding almost 4,500 miles on their Harley Ultra Classic. Rachel Reaid A little known fact about Becky is that after traveling as a passenger on their Harley for the past 10 years, she recently purchased her own Suzuki Boulevard C50T and looks forward to someday having her dream bike, a Harley Softtail Deluxe! Eleanor Williams Eleanor is the voice of the Gas Authority as our Receptionist and has been with us for 10 years as well. Her responsibilities include greeting visitors, handling incoming calls, distributing phone messages, faxes and mail to staff, maintaining the corporate voice mail and keeping track of everyone with a weekly schedule. Eleanor also oversees the schedules of each of the Gas Authority s four meeting rooms, which seem to always have something going on! She assists the Operations Department by data entry of the daily Coal Bed Methane reports and faxing the Daily Measurement Reports to select Transco Members. Becky Fuller Eleanor attended John Tyler College in Virginia and North Metro Technical College here in Georgia. She is a Certified Patient Account Representative and was previously employed in a hospital setting for many years. Eleanor grew up in Virginia before marrying her husband, David, and moving to Georgia. She and David currently reside in Canton with their dog, Miss Daisy. Eleanor has a daughter, Lisa and son-in-law, Mike and two grandchildren Evan (4) and Ashley (2). Her hobbies include scrapbooking, sewing, gardening and playing with her grandchildren. Some little known facts about Eleanor include that she adores Elvis, loves to make people laugh, enjoys the old fashioned art of letter writing and is taking lessons to play the fiddle! Carol Vasilik Carol holds the title of Support Specialist and has been with the Gas Authority for over 8 years. In 1999, the Gas Authority had the need for a part-time person in the Accounting Department as an accounting clerk and in the Communications Department as an assistant to the Communications Coordinator. Eleanor Williams continued on page 4 sep08.indd 3 9/19/2008 9:14:04 AM

4 4 Orienteering 101: Meet the Member Services Department continued from page 3 Many were interviewed for the dual position but Carol was chosen. Initially Carol s time and duties were split between the two departments. In the Accounting Department, Carol assisted Rhonda Phillips with the data entry of accounts payable and other duties as needed. In the Communications Department, Carol took over the publication of the Gas Authority newsletter, CityGate News, from Yolanda White and other assignments as necessary. In 2006, the workload of the Communications Department had grown to be able to support Carol full-time. Carol Vasilik Carol continues to work toward a degree in Visual Communications at a local technical college. In addition to keeping the newsletter rolling on schedule, Carol has also implemented an annual calendar that was professionally printed for the first time this year. She also has the responsibilities for upkeep and maintenance of the Kennesaw facility and purchasing/procurement of all office related products. Carol grew up in Buffalo, NY until the age of 16 when her family moved to New Orleans. Carol relocated to the Atlanta area in 1988 and finally settled in Cartersville. She is not currently married. Her children, Greta, Douglas and Daniel are her pride and joy along with her grandchildren, Nicholas, Alexis, Abigail, Colin and Addison. Her son, Douglas, is an attorney in New Orleans and married to his high school sweetheart Charlotte Copeland. Her son, Daniel, is a surgeon at Medical University of South Carolina hospital and her daughter is pursuing her education in business while working part-time. Carol currently shares her home with her menagerie of pets that include a miniature schnauzer, chow-chow, bobtail cat, 3 cockatiels and an Amazon parrot named Louie who loves to hold conversations and sing with her. Carol is an avid hiker and camper and loves to spend her time outdoors. She has recently become a certified open water SCUBA diver. A little known fact about Carol is that she s left-handed and she s adopted and has been reunited with her birth family. Bryan Smith Bryan holds the title of Senior Business Analyst and has been with the Gas Authority for over 8 years. Bryan s responsibilities include working with Member cities on their budgets, gas rates and cost analysis. Bryan Smith Bryan holds an Associate of Applied Sciences degree in Electronics Technology from the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, Illinois and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of Arizona. Bryan was born and raised in Tucson, Arizona and currently resides in Acworth, Georgia with his wife, Ilene. They have three children Adam (24), Jenna (21), Alex (17) and a cat named Christmas. Bryan s main hobby is playing the electric guitar to relax and have fun, but he feels he needs lessons (just ask Chuck Cason from Thomson). His musical influences include Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Lynyrd Skynyrd, ZZ Top and AC/DC. A little known fact about Bryan was that when he was age 19, he was invited to try out for the Cincinnati Reds Baseball team. continued on page 5 sep08.indd 4 9/19/2008 9:14:05 AM

5 Orienteering 101: Meet the Member Services Department continued from page 4 5 Audie Rusty Hough Rusty holds the title of Senior Business Analyst and has been with the Gas Authority for over 8 years. Rusty was originally with the Subscribed Sales Force as a Marketing Representative until 2004 when he moved into his position in Member Services. His responsibilities include working with Member cities to complete firm rate trackers, industrial billing rate notices, and rate analysis. Rusty holds a degree of Bachelor Business Administration with a dual major, business management and marketing from Valdosta State University. He is also a certified Registered Commercial Gas Consultant with the American Gas Association. He grew up in Albany, Georgia and currently lives in Grady County (GO SYRUPMAKERS!!). He is married to his high school sweetheart, Donna, and they have three children, Ashlee (21), Sarah (17), and Zack (15). The family pets include 6 Dexter cows, 2 dogs, 1 cat, and 1 goat. If anyone is interested in having a new pet, give Rusty a call! Audie Rusty Hough Rusty s hobbies include hunting, fishing, flying remote control airplanes and any other activity that gets him outdoors or spending time with his family. He volunteers with the Grady County 4-H program as the coach for the archery team and as Secretary for the Grady County 4-H Leadership Committee. A little known fact about Rusty is that he is very active with Woodmen of the World Life Insurance Society, Omaha, and currently serves as the Jurisdictional President for the Georgia Chapter of Woodmen of World Life Insurance Society. He is also currently serving as Vice President of the South Georgia Corporation of Woodmen of the World. Judson Rai Trippe Rai holds the title of Senior Business Analyst and has been with the Gas Authority for over 5 years. He began his career with the Gas Authority as a Business Analyst I and has been promoted to his current title. Rai is the city liaison for our Members on the Transco pipeline. His duties include rate analysis, rate comparison analysis (versus marketers), general city support, customer relations, and managing most of the poultry grower fixed rate program tasks. Rai graduated from Presbyterian College (that s the PC Blue Hose if you want to know!) in 1985 with a Bachelor of Science degree. Born in Atlanta, Rai s family moved to Marietta where he has resided since the age of 3. Rai has been married to Wendy for 9 years and they have a son, Nathan, who is 16. Wendy and Nathan have a sweet natured Dalmatian and the family also has a cat that is most entertaining to watch. Rai s hobbies include hunting, fishing and admiring Jerry Bullard s humor! A little known fact about Rai is that he cooks the best hot wings you ever tasted! Anyone up for some wings and cold beverages? Judson Rai Trippe sep08.indd 5 9/19/2008 9:14:07 AM

6 6 AGL's Deregulated Residential Market Pricing - August-08 Average AGL Customer Market-Based Pricing Fixed-Rate Pricing DDDC = 1.29 Marketer AGL Gas Monthly Annual Gas Monthly Annual Month Usage = 16 Monthly Base Usage Average Avg. Total Usage Average Avg. Total Annual Usage = 717 Service Charge Rate/ Cost/Therm Cost/Therm Rate/ Cost/Therm Cost/Therm Marketer Fee Amount Therm Usage 717 Therm Usage 717 Georgia Natural Gas $6.99 $16.64 $1.459 $2.94 $1.88 $1.299 $2.90 $1.72 SCANA Energy $5.95 $16.64 $1.499 $2.91 $1.91 $1.309 $2.72 $1.72 MxEnergy $7.45 $16.64 $1.339 $2.84 $1.77 $1.299 $2.80 $1.73 Infinite Energy $9.45 $16.64 $1.357 $2.99 $1.81 $1.349 $2.82 $1.80 Gas South $7.95 $16.64 $1.350 $2.89 $1.78 $1.270 $2.81 $1.70 Total Weighted Average Rate ($/Therm) $3.64 $2.29 $2.81 $1.73 Total Weighted Average Rate ($/ccf) $3.75 $2.36 $2.90 $1.79 Total Weighted Average Rate ($/Mcf) $37.51 $23.56 $28.96 $17.86 The Careful Readers Challenge September Clue: (i) In this issue of the CityGate News, you will be looking for words that have a single letter that is a underlined. An example might be the letter C in the word Challenge. You ll have to read carefully through each article in this month s issue to find all the letters that fit into the word jumble below John Williams Sally Griffin Chris Howell Lee Smoak Damon Harper Robin Meeks Employee Tenure Spotlight 18 years 9 years 5 years 3 years 2 years 2 years We appreciate the contribution these individuals have made to our organization. Wellhead Spot Supply Prices August-08 Spot Change from Pipeline Prices Prior Month Southern $ % Transco $ % Texas Eastern $ % Note: No transportation and fuel charges are included sep08.indd 6 9/19/2008 9:14:08 AM

7 Gas Authority Contacts Financial Services Chief Financial Officer Susan Reeves (678) Director Chris Howell (678) Controller John Williams (678) Manager Risk Mgmt. Jeff Billings (678) Sr. Financial Analyst Ed Phillips (678) Sr. Financial Analyst Glen Barden (678) Financial Associate Rachael D. (678) Senior Accountant Kara Estep (678) Senior Accountant Rhonda Phillips (678) Operations/Supply Planning Vice President Mike Frey (678) Transportation/Storage Manager Karen Copeland (678) Assistant Mgr. Julie Lobdell (678) Analyst II Sally Griffin (678) Analyst II Kole Strippelhoff (678) Sr. Acct. Analyst Will Nuckolls (678) Supply Planning/Trading Director Tina Smith (678) Analyst Anissa White (678) Capacity Planning Manager Bill Culpepper (678) Analyst II Robin Meeks (678) Gas Ops Asst. Jeanne Collins (678) Member Services Vice President Chris Strippelhoff (678) Communications Sr. Communications Coordinator Yolanda White (678) Support Specialist Carol Vasilik (678) Member Support Manager Scott Tolleson (678) So. Region/Spectra Eric Groom (229) Southern Region Rusty Hough (229) Northern Region Bryan Smith (678) Northern Region Rai Trippe (678) Market Development Manager Rodney Dill (678) Sr. Market Analyst Nicole Graham (678) Regulatory Compliance Manager Bill DeFoor (678) Assistant Manager Tim Franklin (770) Analyst Damon Harper (229) Analyst Maurice Chaney (770) sep08.indd 7 9/19/2008 9:14:09 AM

8 Municipal Gas Authority of Georgia 104 TownPark Drive NW Kennesaw, Georgia Municipal Gas Authority of Georgia 104 TownPark Drive NW Kennesaw, Georgia Phone: (770) Fax: (770) Find us on the Web: Member Cities Adairsville Adel Americus Ashburn Bainbridge Blakely Bowman Buford Butler Byron Cairo Camilla Chambersburg Claxton Cochran Commerce Covington Dawson Doerun Donalsonville Douglas East Central Alabama Eatonton Edison Elberton Fitzgerald Fort Valley Grantville Greensboro Hartwell Havana Hogansville Jasper LaFayette Lanett Lawrenceburg Lawrenceville Louisville Lumpkin Madison Manchester Maplesville Millen Monroe Monticello Moultrie Nashville Pelham Perry Quincy Quitman Roanoke Rockford Royston Smyrna Social Circle Sparta Statesboro Sugar Hill Summerville Sylvania Sylvester Thomasville Thomson Tifton Toccoa Trion Union Point Vienna Wadley Warner Robins Waynesboro Wedowee West Point Winder Wrens CityGate News is a publication of the Municipal Gas Authority of Georgia Editor: Yolanda Santiago-White Writers: The Staff of the Authority Layout & Circulation: Carol Vasilik For questions: Carol Vasilik (678) sep08.indd 8 9/19/2008 9:14:17 AM