Growing up in Maryland, just outside Washington, DC, Kevin Walker always had the feeling that eventually he'd be involved in "something big."
And he is. Walker is VP of maintenance and construction services for Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc, New York City's big electric, gas and steam provider. Right now, among his many responsibilities is guiding the rebuilding of the electrical, gas and steam infrastructure in and around World Trade Center 7 in lower Manhattan.
Walker leads a staff of nearly 1,000, bolstered by hundreds more independent contractors, who do power plant maintenance and street-work projects for the company. Con Edison serves more than three million energy customers in New York City and nearby Westchester County.
Heading the restoration
Walker took on his current position about four years ago. He headed up the massive cleanup and emergency restoration of energy in lower Manhattan that followed the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
"I'd been abroad. I got back two days after it happened and went directly from the airport to Ground Zero," he says. "Our guys did a great job. First we had to get temporary power restored to Wall Street and other major power users. Then we had to take the temporary fixes away and replace them with permanent restorations."
Most of the underground cables in the area were crushed, unreachable and unusable. Workers had to run temporary cables above ground from substation to substation. Some thirty-six miles of temporary electric cable were put down and more than fifteen miles of steam mains restored. The work will eventually require more than 130 miles of new underground cable.
Even at the best of times, the utility equipment running under the streets of Manhattan is "unbelievable," Walker says. "It's like spaghetti." But the complexity doesn't daunt Walker.
West Point and beyond
After high school Walker enrolled at the U.S. Military Academy (West Point, NY). The referral to West Point came from a guidance counselor whose husband had been stationed there. The alternative was to try for a sports scholarship in football or wrestling, but "I wanted something that would really challenge me academically," Walker says.
He was the first in his family to choose the military. "It was something bigger than me," he says. "Service was something I could be proud of."
Walker graduated in 1985 with a BS in civil engineering and business management. He became a captain, first in the artillery in Augsburg, Germany, then at Ft Bragg, NC. There he served as a paratrooper in the Army's 17th Field Artillery, which supports the 82nd Airborne Division.
Walker honed his technical skills in the Army. As an artillery leader he was responsible for plotting firing patterns for military targets. "There are wind shears, muzzle velocities and lots of other things to take into account. You could have calculated them by hand, but we did it by computer. Part of my job was to run the computers and make sure my team would be able to deliver fire on time and on target."
In six and a half years in the military, Walker put his skills to use in Iraq in Operation Desert Storm/Desert Shield.
Power industry cadet
In 1991 he returned to civilian life and joined Con Edison's program for former military officers. "The concept was that the Army taught you leadership, dedication and technical ability. Con Edison would teach you specifics about utility industry work," he says. "I think it was pretty successful."
Hired as an engineering cadet, Walker began his career at Con Edison's Fourteenth Street power plant in Manhattan. He spent two years in a rotation program at the company's East River plant, which put him in plant operation, in the maintenance and chemical areas, and in human resources, "all the things that make a plant run."
By the time he was assigned to be a systems engineer at East River, "I knew that plant inside and out," he says.
Public affairs
In the mid 1990s, he served as public affairs liaison with the city, which made him a key spokesperson for Con Edison.
The move to public affairs was an unexpected opportunity that grew out of his engineering work. Walker was on an alternative fuels taskforce, and part of his responsibility was communicating with city officials. In this role he caught the eye of Con Edison's city government affairs director, Michael Dunleavy, who suggested that Walker would be a good candidate for his job when he retired.
"Unfortunately, Dunleavy passed away suddenly, before he had a chance to retire," says Walker. But Dunleavy had lobbied so strongly in his favor that Walker was named to the post, which he held for a year and a half.
He's still benefiting from that experience. "In public affairs you learn about all the parts of the company because you have to be able to convince city officials and community boards that you have their best interests at heart. As a result, I have insights that a lot of management people don't have," he says.
Higher management
In 1996 he became manager of the field ops and distribution departments of Con Edison's Manhattan steam system, the largest in the world. He was accountable for operations, maintenance, capital improvements and regulatory compliance. In 1999 Walker was named plant manager for fossil power at Waterside Station, one of the company's largest facilities.
Temporary New Englander
In 2000 Con Edison was considering a merger with Northeast Utilities (NU, Hartford, CT). To prepare for the change, Walker was named VP of operations for Public Service of New Hampshire, an NU subsidiary. He transferred to the company's Manchester, NH HQ.
The merger never took place, but Walker enjoyed his stint in northern New England. "It was a novelty for them to see how they could make me part of the community," he says.
"I felt like a celebrity. Everybody wanted to know what was going on, how to help me. I had a great experience."
Mentoring
Walker has had several mentors over his career, notably his boss in steam operations, Dick Morgan. "He was by far the greatest professional and personal influence on my career," Walker says. "It was Dick who suggested that I get my MBA, which I eventually did."
He received his MBA in 2002 from the Wharton School of Business of the University of Pennsylvania, after attending weekend classes for a number of years.
"Management and engineering are like yin and yang," he reflects. "Engineering is very technical; the MBA rounds that out from a business perspective. While they sound like separate paths, they complement each other well."
Active in the American Association for Blacks in Energy, Walker is a mentor himself for prospective Con Edison recruits.
He's very serious about his responsibility as a mentor and role model. "I'm visible," he says. "People call me and I meet with a lot of people in professional development."
Community participation
Walker's love of New York City began back at the Point, where he often visited the city on leave. In his years with Con Edison he's immersed himself in community affairs.
The role he's most proud of is on the board of Comprehensive Development Inc, a nonprofit group which supports mentoring and development programs for the Manhattan Comprehensive Night and Day High School. Walker became involved when he was working in a public service development program called Leadership New York. He's been on the board for almost eight years now.
The school offers high school drop-outs a chance to earn diplomas. "Many of them are working and have childcare, legal and medical issues," Walker says. "Comprehensive Development tries to work around those barriers."
In 1999 Walker received the Harlem YMCA's Black Achiever in Industry award.
Participatory management
When Walker moved into management, his new staffers assumed that as a former Army captain, he would take an autocratic stance. "They found that I'm not that way," Walker says. He describes his management style as "participatory."
"I try to give the right level of input at the right time," he says. "I'll often let people find out for themselves that something won't work.
"I tell them it's like when I was a kid. You could tell me something was hot, but until I touched it I didn't believe you."
His goal as a manager, Walker says, is to "make sure my people are the best they can be. I spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to do that, and I think they appreciate it."
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