New general manager brings an ‘electric' attitude to CHELCO

She’s the new woman in power.

Leigh Grantham took over as CHELCO’s general manager Jan. 1 after long-time GM Gene Smith retired.

Smith spent almost 29 years with Choctawhatchee Electric Cooperative and is the first GM to retire in the co-op’s 69-year history.

Grantham has been with the DeFuniak Springs-based company for 18 years and “wants to put her own stamp on the company.”

 “The past 18 years have been kind of a whirlwind,” she said. “I didn’t come here with the thought of ever being the CEO or GM. I definitely have tough shoes to follow in.”

Grantham came to Walton County in 1989.

After serving as an HR manager for six years, Grantham would hold various positions with the company including: director of corporate services, general manager of CHELCO Services Inc., vice president of marketing and administration and chief operating officer.

“It has been challenging so far,” she said of her latest endeavor. “Electric utilities are traditional type organizations. Sometimes they are slow to adopt to change.”

Grantham hopes to be the catalyst for that change.

“I came from a manufacturing company where we did things on the fly,” she said. “So going from that environment to this more sedate and conservative organization has probably been one of the more challenging things for me.”

She likens those challenges to steering a battleship.

“Think about it, you just don’t turn it on a dime,” she said. “It takes a little longer. You have to work a little bit harder and longer in order to be effective.”

Since CHELCO is a cooperative, they are owned by the members they serve. CHELCO currently serves about 42,000 members, mainly in north Walton County.

“One of the great things about CHELCO is that while we do expect our folks to do their jobs,” Grantham said, “we make sure to give them the tools they need to do that.”

Grantham currently serves as treasurer of the Workforce Development Board for Okaloosa and Walton County, board member for Walton County Economic Development Alliance and United Way of Okaloosa-Walton.

Grantham has a master’s degree in personnel management from Troy University and a bachelor’s degree in public relations/journalism from Auburn University.

Grantham and her husband live just north of DeFuniak along with their English Springer Spaniel Dottie.

“We like to feed the birds and watch the wildlife in the backyard,” she said. “It’s real quiet. We like it that way.”

But she doesn’t expect things will be quiet at the office.

The one thing Grantham hopes to do in 2010 is to “improve her organization, just like Gene Smith did for the past three decades.”

“I want our members to truly receive great customer service and reliability,” she said. “We want to meet their expectations. This is my goal, my hope, and my vision.”