Electric Power Board president Harold DePriest holds a fiber-optic connection box during a 2010 news conference.Harold DePriestAge: 64Job: President and CEO of EPBIndustry leadership: He has served as chairman of the Tennessee Valley Public Power Association, vice chairman of Seven States Power Corp., and director of the American Public Power Association Inc.Education: Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering form Tennessee Tech, MBA from the University of Tennessee at ChattanoogaBoards: Director for the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce, the Chattanooga Downtown Partnership Inc.Personal: He and his wife, Rebecca, reside in Ferger Place.If You GoDePriest will be presented the Chattanooga Area Manager of the Year award at a luncheon on June 5, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m., at the Convention Center. For more information, contact Valerie B. Gifford at 634-3563.About the awardThe Chattanooga Area Manager of the Year award has been presented every year since 1985 to a manager who has contributed as a leader in local economic development and is a role model for professional and ethical development. The organizations that participate in the steering committee that picks the winner includes the American Society of Training and Development, the Better Business Bureau, the Building Owners and Managers Association, the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce, the Chattanooga Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Chattanooga Engineers Club, Chattanooga State Community College, Chattanooga Technology Council, Executive Women International, city of Chattanooga and Hamilton County governments, the Institute of Management Accountants, River
Chattanooga’s city-owned power utility doesn’t often behave like a monopoly electricity distributor.
EPB’s president serves on the executive committee of the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce. The municipal utility competes in the high-speed Internet market with Comcast and AT&T. Its customer service receives top marks — highly unusual among monopolies who typically refer to customers as “ratepayers.”
Even more unusual for a medium-sized municipal electric distributor, EPB has handily trounced search giant Google in the nationwide race to offer community-wide gigabit Internet speed, and has sent representatives across the nation to evangelize the economic development potential of ultra-fast broadband Internet.
Perhaps some of EPB’s free-market, customer-focused tendencies can be traced back to its president and CEO, Harold DePriest, and his efforts to avoid being blindsided by deregulation.