Tennessee American Water President Valoria Armstrong pushes new boundaries

Tennessee American Water president Valoria (CQ) Armstrong speaks to guests during a tour of their new $18 million dewatering facility on Monday, Apr. 25, 2016, in Chattanooga, Tenn.

During one of the worst droughts in Chattanooga in decades, Valoria Armstrong helped keep the water flowing this year for more than 300,000 persons served by the Tennessee American Water Co.

Armstrong, who took over as head of Tennessee's biggest privately owned water utility a year ago, is used to taking on big challenges.

At age 26, she was elected in 2005 as the youngest and first female president in more than 50 years of the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). At the time, she was a manager at Food Lion where she applied three times for a top role in human resources at the company.

After being overlooked the third time, she determined to leave the grocer and she joined Tennessee American Water in 2011. After a brief stint as a human resources manager for the utility's parent company, American Water Co., in St. Louis, she was chosen in late 2015 to become president of Tennessee American Water. She is the first African-American woman to hold the top job at Tennessee American and is one of the highest ranking black business leaders in Chattanooga.

She hopes she is not the last. Armstrong says businesses need to do more to recognize the diverse talent within their ranks.

"We have to recognize the talent that is all around us," Armstrong says. "And that talent is not going to always look like you."

Larry Buie, general manager of Chattanooga Gas Co., who is scheduled next year to be one of the first African-American chairs of the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce, praises Armstrong for breaking through both racial and gender glass ceilings at the water utility.

"It's been said that diversity without inclusion is like being invited to a party but never being asked to dance," Buie says. "(Valoria Armstrong) not only has she been invited to the party, she's leading the dance."

At the water utility, Tennessee American continues to invest in equipment to better treat and distribute the water it gets from the Tennessee River. During this year's drought, the utility also used water buffalo trucks and other equipment to help aid other utilities relying upon depleted groundwater supplies.

To help maintain and upgrade Chattanooga's water supply, Tennessee American plans to spend almost $16 million on equipment upgrades in 2017, including a $2 million river crossing to reinforce water service north of the Tennessee River.

"With changes in technology in the water utility industry, we are investing in our system so that customers benefit from these improvements," Armstrong says.

The Tennessee American Water president also serves as chairwoman of the Chattanooga chapter of the American Cancer Society, and has been actively involved in the Chattanooga chapter of the Society of Human Resources Management, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Chancellors' Diversity Advisory Council, and the Volkswagen Diversity Council. She also serves on the board of the Orange Grove Center in Hamilton County.