Alumni & Friends : Alumni Profiles

Forging Rare Combinations

Gary Harris
BS Public Administration '82

Gary Harris is preparing to leave a job he loves, managing the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Green Power Switch Program in Nashville, for another job that he is quite certain he will love: General Manager for Customer Service for TVA’s Western Region District in Memphis. Gary loved the work he did at TVA prior to leading their green power programs — actually six different assignments in ten years with the nation’s largest public utility, in regional accounts, marketing, energy services, corporate education, procurement and strategic planning.

That he has loved and left all these jobs makes sense to Gary: “Some people are good at pulling things together. Some are good at maintaining a system that someone else has built. Others are good at shutting an operation down. Me, I’m a builder. I like to take an unformed idea and give it life. I consider myself a catalyst, a risk taker, a creative force. And to build, you have to commit. I like to thrust me into whatever I’m doing.” Gary’s story going back to his Bakersfield, California childhood is that of a person who thrusts himself into every opportunity.

Arriving at the UA as a scholarship athlete, Gary understood that playing defensive back on the football team was less likely to ensure his future than earning a college degree. “I was small and knew I had limited options in the pros. But more than that, I had fierce encouragement. My mother was intent on me getting my education and I had a friend on the team who said over and over, ‘Gary you better leave here with more than you had when you came.’” He pursued a degree in public administration, aiming at hospital administration, but found by graduation it was not the field for him. Uncertain of his direction, he joined the Canadian Football League, playing for three years before a shoulder injury ended his career. Returning to Bakersfield, he was hired by Chevron and positioned for management, moving from roughnecker to operations assistant and then production foreman before taking roles in safety and environmental engineering. At Chevron, Gary discovered the key to his subsequent success: ability to merge technical expertise with managerial skill in technological environments.

“In technical companies the technical people tend to get the promotions. Technology drives the business and the people doing the hiring and promoting tend to be engineers themselves. With only a management background you can be bright, good, but you’ve got one arm tied behind your back. You get less respect, your contribution is discounted. Managing technically oriented people, you’ve got to know the language, understand the concepts. I’ve been put in roles requiring technical expertise and I’m quick on the technical stuff but I sought out every educational experience possible short of getting an engineering degree.” Chevron sent Gary to UCLA’s executive engineering and management program; at the TVA he developed his technical expertise internally, eventually earning a Certified Energy Manager designation and with it, automatic recognition of his skills. “You want to avoid getting slotted on one side or the other. To possess both technical expertise and the ability to manage people is a rare combination that counts.”

Gary has made a career of capitalizing on uncommon combinations. He successfully paired athletics and academics, merges his passion for building with corporate needs for innovation, and manages technical environments with a team player’s touch. Contemplating his life, he says, “I always wanted to transcend any limiting perceptions anyone might have of me based on athletics, race, education, whatever, to be seen as a business professional first.” Goal accomplished.