Jim Ferrell has been president and chief executive officer at Jackson Energy Authority since April 2011. WNWS.COM visited with Jim for a question and answer session to discuss various aspects of this organization that employs 400 people.
Question: Can you give us a little background on yourself?
Answer: I was born and raised in Jackson, and I am a graduate of Jackson Central-Merry High School and have a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Tennessee and a MBA from the University of Tennessee.
I began working at JEA while still in college and have held various positions at the company – project Engineer, Systems Engineer, Superintendent of Systems Operations, Vice President of Operations, Sr. Vice President of Electric Division and Chief Operating Officer.
Question: Most people equate a utility company with electricity, water and gas. JEA also offers Internet, cable and telephone, launching EPlus Broadband in 2004. What are your thoughts on how this idea has developed, and what it means to the future of this community?
Answer: John Williams was the president of JEA when the broadband system was added. In the 1990’s and early 2000’s, we were seeing tremendous growth in our industrial community. We were adding a new industry every 18 to 24 months.
During this time, we received hundreds of requests for information from companies looking to locate in Jackson. The Internet was just beginning to develop and companies didn’t understand the impact, but were asking questions about how our community was preparing for the future Internet demands.
John had the vision to install a fiber optic system which had an extremely good expansion possibility.
The use of the Internet began very slowly, but has grown rapidly over the last 10 years. We are seeing the usage on the Internet double every 18 months on our system. We are still using the original fiber optic cables installed in 2004, but we have been able to upgrade the electronics over the years to increase the speed of the network.
We continue to see the Internet become an integral part of business today. I think being able to keep up with business’s demands is critical for the growth of Jackson.
Question: JEA offers some of the lowest rates on utilities in the country. How does JEA manage to keep costs down?
Answer: New technology has been critical to running as efficiently as possible. We have been able to integrate new technology into almost every part of our business to be more efficient.
Our field personnel have better access to system information to allow them to complete their job more efficiently than in the past.
We have recently launched a new app to allow customers to see their bill and pay online. This has created some efficiencies in our bill processing and customer service areas.
Question: With all the development taking place in Jackson what are some of the major challenges facing JEA?
Answer: We have two major challenges with the new development in Jackson – first is upgrading our infrastructure to be sure we have the capacity to serve the new homes and business, second is maintaining the existing infrastructure that serves our community.
Some of our existing utility systems are more than 50 years old and are nearing the end of their useful life. Replacing aging infrastructure is very costly, but needed to maintain the integrity and reliability of each of our utility systems.
Question: What are your thoughts about the revitalization of downtown Jackson?
Answer: I think it’s great! We are seeing a new culture in Jackson with people that want to live, work, shop and play downtown. With the development of the LiFT/JacksonWalk area, we have seen a huge increase in the number of people downtown.
The addition of renters and home owners has created a new demand for a wide range of needs – groceries, restaurants, retail shopping, entertainment, exercise facilities, etcetera. I believe all of our downtown apartment property is doing well and we continue to see growth.
From a utility perspective, this has created an area of growth to a section of town that had not seen growth in many years.
Question: JEA was instrumental in helping bring the University of Memphis to Jackson after Lambuth University closed in 2011. How important was it to keep a college on this campus?
Answer: I am so glad to see the University of Memphis at Lambuth campus doing well. I believe they have over 1,000 students on campus now.
With the closure of Lambuth, we were concerned that we would see many empty homes in the area and possibly affect the growth of our downtown area.
When companies are looking to locate in Jackson, many will look at the downtown area to get a “feel” for the community.
With the new revitalization of downtown, we are creating some new excitement around downtown.
This excitement is good for our industrial community, but also for home sales in the surrounding areas – such as around the Lambuth campus.
(PHOTO: Jim Ferrell, president/CEO, Jackson Energy Authority)
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