________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Community commitment
To better understand the philosophy behind the business , we recently sat down with JEA duo , Alan D . McElroy and Jenny McCollum . Alan is Vice President of Supply Chain & Operations Support , whereas Jenny is Chief Procurement Officer & Director of Procurement Services & Inventory Planning .
Both stand to offer us a valuable insight into Florida ’ s chief not-for-profit utility . First , though , let ’ s get to know them a bit better .
“ I joined JEA about ten years ago ,” says Alan . “ When I first came in , I started as the Manager of Fleet Services , and have since added more and more groups to my team .
“ Now , on top of fleet services , we have procurement , warehouse operations , facilities , physical security , investment recovery operations , emergency preparedness , and utility location services .
“ It is quite a broad span !” he laughs . “ But fortunately , I have wonderful leaders like Jenny in each of these diverse groups . It is interesting , really : we are basically the support group for the organization .
If any one of these departments falters or fails , then things could get a little bumpy !”
Over to Jenny . “ In my role , I am responsible for the annual purchase and spend of about $ 500 million with JEA ,” she reveals .
“ Everything I do is the result of strong strategic direction , valuable vision growth performance of procurement , and insightful inventory planning . This enables us to run a diverse supplier program .
“ I have spent the last two decades working in the public sector . Therefore , I hold civic duty and community work in very high regard .”
So does Alan . It turns out to be an important talking point , and one worth dedicating time to . As Alan
118