JEA Chief Public Affairs Officer Receives National Public Power Award

2012-06-20

Jacksonville, FL - Bud Para, Chief Public Affairs Officer for JEA in Jacksonville, Fla., received the American Public Power Association’s (APPA) Alan H. Richardson Statesmanship Award at the Association’s national conference in Seattle, Washington. The award recognizes public power leaders who work successfully and tirelessly on APPA’s behalf forging consensus on national issues that achieve public power’s goals.

Para has been active in the American Public Power Association since joining JEA as an engineer in electric transmission planning in 1980. He has been deeply engaged in environmental issues and has served on numerous APPA task forces related to climate policy and clean air. He has been active on the APPA Legislative & Resolutions Committee. In these roles, he has been an effective spokesman for public power on environmental and electricity markets issues. He has testified before Congress and met with officials and staff of regulatory agencies to explain the practical impact of proposed and implemented legislation and regulation on public power utilities.

“He is a person of great character, competency and credibility, which makes him an effective advocate and an asset to the prestige of public power,” said two industry colleagues who nominated him for APPA recognition. “He is a thought-leader among public power managers. His intellectual influence is evident in the number of APPA resolutions he has sponsored and the resulting effectiveness of his efforts.”

The American Public Power Association (APPA) is the service organization for the nation's more than 2,000 community-owned electric utilities that serve more than 46 million Americans. More info at www.publicpower.org. 

JEA is the seventh-largest community-owned electric utility in the United States and one of the largest water and sewer utilities in the nation providing electric, water and sewer service to residents in northeast Florida. 

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