Garland, Texas, March 9, 2007 – The City of Garland has appointed Ray Schwertner to take the helm of Garland Power & Light. Mr. Schwertner brings more than 30 years of electric utility experience with a unique background in power marketing, energy risk management, resource planning and retail electric aggregation services.
“As a municipally-owned utility, GP&L faces its own unique opportunities and challenges,” says Garland City Manager Bill Dollar. “Ray’s leadership and extensive background in the Texas electric industry environment will help GP&L create a progressive vision for the coming years.”
Schwertner has served as President and CEO for Vision Energy Consultants (VEC) of Round Rock, Texas since 1998. VEC provides expertise in wholesale power marketing and risk management for consumer-owned electric utilities. Schwertner has assisted electric cooperatives and municipal systems with strategic planning and strategic plan implementation.
Prior to VEC, the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) benefited from Schwertner’s services. As the architect of LCRA’s Vision Energy Services, Schwertner helped LCRA reduce their generation risks and mitigated their exposure to fuel costs while securing adequate revenue streams. During Mr. Schwertner’s term as CEO, Vision Energy Services of LCRA created savings and revenues exceeding 18 million dollars.
Mr. Schwertner also served LCRA as Executive Director of Transmission and Engineering Operations and later as Executive Director of TENSCO, the aggregation of the transmission and engineering operations, corporate resource planning, fuels department, customer rates and energy services departments.
During the 1980s and early 90s, Schwertner served as CEO of McCulloch Electric Cooperative, Inc. in Brady, Texas. There he implemented financial models to better evaluate the progress of building equity and a stronger financial position. He began his career in the power industry in 1971 at Texas Power and Light Company (now TXU Electric).
Schwertner fills the opening created in August 2006 when Jim Harder retired as Managing Director of Garland’s electric utility.
