Chesapeake employees have had the opportunity to join peers, colleagues and other industry experts as guest speakers and panelists at energy conferences and events. Employee participants are empowered to share our company’s story as well their professional and personal successes and experiences, their innovative insights, and understanding of the business, needs of our customers and broader markets.

Kevin Webber had the honor of speaking at the FNGA 2019 Symposium & Expo held in Orlando, FL. The three-day event was hosted by the Florida National Gas Association (FNGA) which promotes, protects and encourages the growth of the natural gas industry in the state of Florida. Kevin moderated the Leadership/Planning for the Future joint session including three panelists, Tim O’Connor, Vice President Business Development, TECO Peoples Gas; Samuel Davis, Jr., General Manager & Chief Executive Officer, Lake Apopka Gas District; and Gordon King, Chief Executive Officer for Okaloosa Gas District. Each panelist discussed how they train and promote leaders.

FPU was honored to be a sponsor of the FNGA Symposium & Expo with leadership joining employees for the President’s Banquet on the final evening of the conference. Jeff Householder, President and CEO, is the immediate past president of the FNGA and a current FNGA Board member with FNGA board members Kevin Webber, Vice President and President, Florida Business Unit; and Cheryl Martin, Vice President, Regulatory Affairs.

“I kicked off the panel speaking about the difficulties there are to bring people to work within our industry and highlighted a couple of examples, such as the front page of the USA Today mentioning that natural gas is almost over. So it is hard to talk about leadership if you can’t get a new generation interested in natural gas. I also spoke about the differences leading baby boomers, millennials, Gen X and Y. In closing, I pitched to get more of our industry people involved on the association committees and the great value that brings to developing leadership skills.”

 

Kevin Webber
Senior Vice President and President, Florida Business Unit.

At the 2019 FNGA Symposium & Expo, Jim Hayhurst, Commercial Sales Manager, discussed AquaWatch Clean Energy Program in Florida during the conference’s marketing breakout session. FPU’s new clean energy water heating solution program is a turnkey solution to owners and developers building multi-family housing, on-campus housing, timeshares and any other potential properties looking to reduce their net operating expense and increase their nee operating income.

AquaWatch is a solution comprised of various systems, products and components related to saving energy while providing lower net operation expenses associated with maintaining multi-family housing developments and other housing complexes.

The first AquaWatch project initiated in December 2018 with Florida-based A.G. Spanos Corporation in Sanford, FL. The 250-unit multi-family complex is on schedule to be completed in the first quarter of 2020. A master commercial gas meter feeds a bank of tankless water heaters supplying recirculated hot water throughout each building. Gas costs are passed through to tenants via a hot water sub-meter feeding each apartment. This design reduces the cost of heating water by 60% to 70% per unit while opening up additional living space in each apartment, increasing value to the property owner.

“I am a 34-year veteran of the natural gas and propane gas industries in Florida, and a longtime member of FNGA. As a speaker at the symposium, I found the turnout to be favorable. Many are unaware of the AquaWatch program, so it will take some time to catch on within the FNGA. It’s an exciting new program that brings great promise as a valuable tool for breaking into the multi-family sector at a minimal upfront cost to the end user.”

 

Jim Hayhurst
Commercial Sales Manager

Mark Cutshaw spoke at the Gas Power Plant Engineering and Construction Conference & Exhibition, held in Pittsburgh, PA by Petrochemical Update. He presented a case study, Combined Heat and Power for Utilities – Insight into Chesapeake’s Amelia Island Power Plant.

Mark discussed the Company’s and his personal experiences installing Chesapeake’s first combined heat and power plant; working with state regulators to successfully secure the project; and transitioning from the engineering and construction phase of the project to full operations in place.

“The conference has become a next generation energy event which welcomed more than 1,500 attendees, including industry experts to share insights as well as vendors, potential customers and innovative service providers who all were very interested in the topics being presented. The conference is positioned at the forefront of the booming gas power plant construction industry and included an exhibition venue that provided an abundance of information related to gas power plant construction and maintenance.”

 

Mark Cutshaw

Dave Detrick was a speaker at the Delmarva Freight Summit held in Newark, DE and hosted by the Wilmington Area Planning Council (WILMAPCO) in partnership with the Delaware Department of Transportation, the Dover/Kent County Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), Salisbury/Wicomico MPO and the University of Delaware’s Institute for Public Administration. The focus of the event was Delmarva’s Competitive Edge in Freight & Logistics
WILMAPCO is the regional transportation planning agency for New Castle County, DE and Cecil County, MD, and charged with planning and coordinating transportation investments for the region based on federal policy, local input, technical analysis, and best practices. Public and private representatives with an interest in freight and goods movement or economic development were encouraged to attend the event.

“The focus of this group is on improving the movement of freight in and out of the Delmarva Peninsula region. I spoke about our new Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) station and how it supports CNG trucking fleets, and its role in expanding the Delaware/Maryland clean fuels corridor.”

 

Dave Detrick

The Southern Gas Association (SGA) hosted attendees at its first ever Natural Gas Connect conference in San Antonio, TX. This conference merged three SGA conferences into one – Environmental, Safety & Health and Training Conference; Marketing, Customer Experience & Communications Conference; and Operating Conference & Expo – to create a premier experience for the natural gas industry.

SGA has been focused on growing individuals and advancing the industry by linking people, ideas and information from across the energy industry. The conference sessions facilitated open discussions involving the challenges the industry is facing, the exploration of new ideas and the continued push toward a cleaner energy future.

Crystal Campbell, Supervisor, Integrated Communications, participated on the “First Time Attendee” panel discussion at the Natural Gas Connect conference.