Greg Eaves is leaving a much different EPB than the one he joined in 2004 as the first senior vice president of finance. The chief financial officer will retire June 1 after nearly 22 years in the top finance role at the city-owned energy and communications provider.
In 2004, EPB had cash and assets worth around $350 million. Now, its balance sheets carry around $1.4 billion, EPB CEO David Wade said as he honored Eaves at a board meeting Friday.
Over the accountant’s career at EPB, its electricity revenues have grown from around $360 million to more than $700 million. When Eaves started, EPB had 139 business internet customers generating less than $200,000 in revenues, Wade said. The telecommunications business, then 4 years old, was losing money and at risk of closing down. EPB now has around 132,700 business and residential internet customers with a fiber optic network generating $180 million in revenue.
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While public utilities are often focused on cutting costs to keep electric rates low, Wade remembered something Eaves told him years earlier: “You can’t cut your way to prosperity.” The finance chief liked cutting costs, but Eaves also understood how to make investments to create new lines of business, Wade said.