Philip Baruth made a really good point a few weeks ago. Blogs are supposed to dish the dirt, tell it like it is, and be a place for frank and pointed discussion, in this instance about what’s good and what’s not in our company. We’ve certainly been chasing the question long enough—the challenge of knowing what exactly we are talking about when we discuss (often ad nauseum, admittedly) the transformation that GMP has undergone over the past 10 years. As a result, we may have a nodding acquaintance with the pivotal moments, characters, near death experiences and redemptions of the last half-score years, but for the purposes of generating a blog worth reading, we thought we would profile GMP—and by association its character--by introducing you to one key member of the team at a time. But first, a little history:
Remember the Taj Mahal on the hill in South Burlington, complete with executive suites, fancy board rooms, and an office with a lake view for every executive? Even mid-level staff enjoyed higher dividers for their offices to denote their elevated status from the rest of the employees. Come visit the offices today; Chris and Mary and everyone else share the same space, which features open, low dividers and equal square footage. No executive perks…for real. And while there’s not exactly wholesale hanging out, back-slapping and chit-chatting with Chris and Mary on a daily basis (let’s not get crazy); there really is a sense that the people who survived the changes at GMP are all committed to both what we fundamentally consider a new company and to the sense that we are a team. No kidding.
When we were on the hill, facing bankruptcy, employment topped out at just over 400 people. And, as with any seriously entrenched system, a sense that “this is how it’s always been done” ruled. In our offices today, we operate with the best of the best (190 -give or take a couple—though we know Mary hates it when we’re not precise) people who all understand that we have to search for new and more efficient ways to do business each and every day. Mary and Chris have to take credit where credit is due; they led this massive restructuring effort—at times a very painful one--and continue to lead us with a clear vision.
A part of the company’s new sense of purpose is the conviction that the very nature of the service we provide interweaves us into the communities we serve, and that integration should ideally include volunteerism whenever possible. We are proud to employ and support individuals who share this commitment and who are involved—every day--in a caring way. 
Which brings us to Don Tougas, our first blog victim (his boss, Mary Pat Cawley, was supposed to be our first, but she whole-heartedly and with great force threw Don under the blog bus. Thanks, Mary Pat…I know that Don appreciated it). Don’s been with the company for just over five years after a long career with Digital, and then several years of self-employment. It says something about Don’s nature that when he left to go out on his own, he had two business cards printed; one for carpentry and home building, and another for computer consulting. It didn’t take him long to realize that turning a hobby (he built his own home) into a business wasn’t the right move in snowy Vermont, and the consulting work was good money. Unfortunately, it also turned into a ton of travel--to Micronesia, England, pretty much all over the world--but taking Don away from his growing children and wife. So, he and his business partners set their sights on building a locally based business and starting courting, and winning, clients like UVM and Husky. They’d been talking to folks at GMP, and when he heard about a job opening up here in the IT Department (just after the dot-com bust), he decided to put a resume together.
Now, this was after the first big, major change and the move to the new office space, but what Don remembers at his first staff meeting at GMP was the discussion about restructuring the Finance and IT Departments…again. Shortly after that, the entire department was required to apply for new positions, followed by further staff reductions. He says that, after having been out in the world and having worked with many, many companies before joining GMP, he felt as though he came in with a different mentality from the start. “The people still here had been reduced to the hard-working few,” he recalls. “That’s really how I see this company now…a lot of responsibility is put on the people here to do more with less. You either thrive in this environment or you don’t stay here. Every person here really pulls their weight and is great to work with.”
What’s not great? “The open environment is really different. No walls. No privacy,” Don admits. He actually uses Bose headphones to tune out his neighbors (all 190 of them) when he’s programming. As a programmer “you really need isolation to get your work done.” Of course, Don can’t just leave such a terrible negative on the table like that. He says “I do really like the openness and ease of being able to talk to people regardless of their position in the company – it makes for a much more efficiently run company.” He adds that while the company is obviously heading in the right direction (“pleasing our customers, making their experience the best it can be and keeping rates low”), he also notes that a lot of people put in very long hours. “We’re always on the short-handed side, and it’s hard to put the finishing touches on a project before you’re on to the next one. It can become very overwhelming at times.”
Don’s daughter, Leah, is living just north of San Diego, CA and working in HR for Homeland Security. The whole family visited there for Thanksgiving, when Leah’s Marine boyfriend asked Don for her hand (he proposed just a few weeks ago!). His son Justin just graduated from UVM and is continuing an internship with GMP focusing on engineering and the on-going GIS work. He was Treasurer of the Feel Good Group at UVM, a grassroots organization dedicated to ending world hunger and focusing on micro loans to entrepreneurs in Third World countries as a means to this end. His contract work ends in January, so if you have a job prospect for Justin, email Don at tougas@greenmountainpower.biz and share the lead. Don’s wife, Nan, raised the kids, working part-time in each school they went to (and is still at UVM today). Don says Nan is “amazing. It’s had a really big impact on our family to have her there with them all of that time.”
Don volunteers once a month with Meals on Wheels in Colchester. He picks up meals at the Episcopal Church in Essex, and delivers them to an ever changing route. He says, “It is amazing how many people are really shut in and don’t talk to anyone all day – they just want that human interaction – you feel really good about giving them that contact. It opens your eyes to that. I really like helping the elderly. The older couple that I bought the land from when I built our house, they made a real impression on me and got me involved in Meals on Wheels.” Don befriends and helps his elderly neighbors, running errands and doing favors for them. “Picturing myself making it that far…you can’t help but think about how much these simple thing must mean to them. If everyone did just the little things,” Don says, “it’s the little things that make the biggest impact.”
When GMP became involved with the mentoring organization Mobius (aka Mobius, the Mentoring Movement) on Pine Street, Don volunteered right away. “Mobius matched me up with a homeless kid,” he began. “His father is in prison and his mother was being helped by COTS (Coalition for Temporary Shelter). I would pick him up in different locations.” Don decided to involve his young nephews in the project to make it easier for his young client and he started mentoring all three of them. He’s been with the same young man now for over a year and when trouble came up, his nephews brought the client to Don’s home– a level of trust among all four of them that they could never have foreseen, and a testament to what happens when you give the most important gift of all…time.
So, that’s it for our first blog victim. I tried to get something, okay, anything on him or out of him about GMP. Couldn’t do it. We found out that Don talks too much, is too nice and that the building’s too noisy. Geez. Tell us something we don’t know. Oh well. Maybe next time the blog will get down and dirty….stay tuned! (And, if you’d like to nominate your co-worker for blog victimhood, email us at schnure@greenmountainpower.biz)
Until then, for more information about how you can get involved with things that Don cares about, log onto:
Feel Good: global site http://www.feelgoodworld.org/ or local UVM site http://www.uvm.edu/theview/article.php?id=2296
Meals-on-Wheels: http://www.mealcall.org/volunteers/htm
If you just want to help someone get meals or assistance check out: http://www.mealcall.org/meals-on-wheels/vt/index.htm (802-878-7681)
Don says that Mobius is always looking for more help. He shared this tidbit from their last meeting: They have 3,000 kids that want mentors and presently have 730 mentors statewide. For information about how you can get involved, log onto: http://www.mobiusmentors.org/ (info@mobiusmentors.org 802-658-1888).
And if you’re interested in volunteering, want more info, or just want to ask Don some questions, feel free to contact him at 878-6740 or 655-8720 or email him at tougas@greenmountainpower.biz.