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Board and Management
Senior Leadership Team
JEA’s Senior Leadership Team is committed to achieving our mission: providing the best service by becoming the center of our customers' energy and water experience. Please click on each leader's name to learn more about their role, background and experience.
Jay Stowe was named JEA’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer in November 2020. In his role, he oversees
Florida’s largest community-owned water, wastewater and electric utility, which employs approximately 2,000 team members and serves more than one million residents and businesses across Northeast Florida.
For more than 25 years in the not-for-profit
utility sector, Mr. Stowe has held executive leadership positions and supported groups including: operations, finance, engineering, administration, human resources, and customer experience. Mr. Stowe is a visionary who focuses on elevating employee
satisfaction, customer satisfaction, community engagement and economic development – which he believes is critical to JEA’s ability to best serve its customers and community.
Prior to joining JEA, Mr. Stowe was CEO of Stowe Utility Group
in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where he provided consulting services in support of utility operations, business and functional needs to community-owned utilities across the Southeast and Midwest. He served in senior vice president roles over distributed
energy resources and operations for the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), developing renewable energy, energy efficiency and electrification initiatives. Prior to TVA, he spent more than a decade at Huntsville (Ala.) Utilities, where he served as
VP of Operations and COO before becoming President and CEO. Under Mr. Stowe’s leadership, Huntsville Utilities grew to become the 15th largest public gas system in the country, the 20th largest public electric system in the country and one of the
largest water systems in the Southeast. Earlier, he served as Utilities Director in Shelby, N.C. and Public Works and Utilities Director in Newton, N.C. He started his career working for private engineering firms in the Carolinas and Ohio.
Mr. Stowe earned a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from North Carolina State University.
Brian Roche began his career with JEA in 1983 as a co-op student. He then went on to serve in the roles of Director, Financial Planning Budgets & Rates; Director, Meter, Billing and Collections; System Planning Coordinator, Account Executive, and Project
Engineer. Most recently he served as JEA’s VP/GM of Water/Wastewater from December 2012 to June 2018.
Mr. Roche has led teams and worked across both electric, water, and wastewater utility systems and functions including Finance, Engineering
and Construction, System Planning and Development, Customer Service, and Operations. In addition to his 26 years of service at JEA, Brian most recently worked at Orlando Utilities Commission and has seven years of experience in private business, including
engineering positions at CH2M Hill and Amoco Oil Company.
Mr. Roche earned a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering degree from Georgia Institute of Technology, a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from the University of Florida, and Master
of Accountancy and Master of Business Administration degrees from the University of North Florida. He is a Certified Public Accountant and a registered Professional Engineer.
Ricky Erixton began his career as a co-op at JEA in 1989 in the Substation Maintenance Department and joined JEA in a permanent role in 1991 as an engineer in the System Operations Department. During his 30-year career at JEA, he has worked in the System Operations Department, managed Bulk Power Operations, had leadership positions in Transmission and Distribution Maintenance, Substation and Transmission Maintenance, and most recently was Senior Director of Transmission and Distribution. In this role, he was responsible for the maintenance of the entire JEA electric system, from generation resources to the customer.
Mr. Erixton holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Florida and holds a NERC System Operator Certification.
Hai Vu has nearly 22 years of experience in the water and wastewater field. Prior to joining JEA in 2004, he worked for a consulting firm as a design engineer and project manager. At JEA, he has served as the engineer for the Water and Sewer Expansion Authority, professional engineer for the development review group, project manager overseeing engineering and construction of various water and wastewater facilities, Manager of Water Plants Engineering and Construction, and Director of Water/Wastewater & Reuse Treatment and District Energy System.
Mr. Vu earned a Bachelor of Science in Engineering Science and a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Engineering from the University of Florida. He received a Master of Business Administration from the University of North Florida and a Master of Science in Environmental Engineering from the University of Central Florida. He is a licensed Professional Engineer in Florida.
Sheila Pressley was named JEA's Interim Chief Customer Officer in November 2020. Over her 18-year tenure at JEA, she has provided a wealth of operational and strategic leadership, including service on the extended leadership team and the Customer Experience Business Unit executive leadership team. She has also held leadership positions in Revenue Cycle, Customer Assistance Programs, Call Center Operations, Meter Reading, and Commercial Client Relationships departments and was the Communications and Change Manager for the Customer Care & Billing Project. Additionally she was among the team members who championed customer satisfaction initiatives that led to JEA’s 51-point improvement in the 2013 JD Power Residential Customer Satisfaction Survey.
Ms. Pressley is heavily engaged in community and civic endeavors. She has served as a JAX Chamber Trustee and serves on the board of directors for several nonprofit agencies. She is a 2019 Leadership Jacksonville graduate and volunteers her time to support this longstanding leadership program. She is currently serving a second term as Chair of the Planning Committee for the Northeast Florida Community Action Agency (NFCAA), a nonprofit agency purposed to stabilize vulnerable households and empower families in Northeast Florida to achieve self-sufficiency through education, employment, and advocacy. She also serves on the National Energy & Utility Affordability Coalition (NEUAC) board of directors, a nationwide organization that advocates for the energy needs of low-income households. She is a former board member of Community Heath Charities of Florida and a past mentor with Take Stock in Children.
Biographical sketch coming soon
Alan McElroy joined JEA in 2014 as the Director of Fleet Services. Most recently, he served as the Director of Operations Support Services, which includes fleet services, facilities, supply chain (warehousing, investment recovery operations), utility locates and emergency preparedness.
Mr. McElroy joined JEA after a 32-year career at Duke Energy, where he served as Vice President of Fleet Services and Meter Operations. After the 2006 merger of Duke Energy and Cinergy in the Midwest, he led the combined Fleet Services and Meter Operations team.
Mr. McElroy earned a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from the University of Alabama, where he also received the Distinguished Fellow of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering recognition. He also holds a Master of Business Administration from Queens University.
Wayne Young is a Jacksonville native. His 13 years at JEA were preceded by a highly decorated military career. During his career at JEA, he has served as Director, Meter Reading, Billing and Revenue Collections; Director, Advanced Network Metering; Director, Industrial, Commercial and Business Client Relations; Director, Government Affairs and Economic Development; and Director, Environmental Programs. He has authored nationally published articles on applying leadership and technology to enhance performance in the utility industry.
Mr. Young’s military career is highlighted by service at the Pentagon as Political Affairs Officer to numerous foreign countries and wartime Command of two Naval Warships – AEGIS Cruiser and Guided Missile Frigate. He also served as Director of the Navy’s Surface Warfare Engineering School and has earned certifications in operating mechanical, electrical, and water generation and distribution systems.
Mr. Young holds a Bachelor of Science from the U.S. Naval Academy, a Master of Science in Telecommunications Systems and Master of Arts in Strategic Policy and Decision Making.
Kurtis Wilson joined JEA in March 2020 on an interim basis to lead its Office of Government Affairs, which is responsible for fostering relationships with federal, state and local partners and legislative bodies that impact JEA.
Prior to joining JEA, Mr. Wilson served 25 years with the Jacksonville Fire & Rescue Department, moving through the ranks from firefighter to Director/Fire Chief. It is there that his government affairs responsibilities began in 2011, when he was appointed to Division Chief of Administrative Services. Following that he was appointed to Division Chief of Fire Prevention in 2012, Division Chief of Operations in 2013, and ultimately Chief of the Department in 2015. In that role he worked with most city agencies, department heads and local elected officials to help solve problems they faced in the realm of public safety. His responsibilities included managing 1,600 personnel, all budget and legislative affairs, delivering state-of-the-art fire-rescue services to Duval County residents, and managing responses to large-scale events such as hurricanes Matthew and Irma, industrial accidents and multi-alarm structure fires.
Mr. Wilson earned a Bachelor of Science in Public Administration from Flagler College and holds numerous certifications in Incident Command System, Hazardous Materials, and Urban Search and Rescue (USAR).
Stephen Datz has worked in the Information Technology field for more than 30 years. His career at JEA includes positions as Director, IT Infrastructure and Compliance Assurance; Director, Technology Infrastructure; Manager, Technical Services; as well as system project leader for data architect. His previous roles include working for the St. Johns River Power Park, responsibilities for supporting a global network infrastructure in addition to leading the planning, analysis, design, construction, testing and implementation of several IT enterprise system upgrades.
Mr. Datz received a Bachelor of Science in Information Systems from the University of North Florida.
As JEA’s Interim Chief Compliance Officer, Steve Tuten is responsible for JEA’s primary governance, risk and compliance (GRC) areas, including Audit Services, CIP Compliance, Electric Compliance, Ethics and Security. He has served as JEA’s director of
audit services since November 2015.
Mr. Tuten has more than 35 years of internal audit, finance and consulting experience, primarily in the financial services industry. His Audit Services position is his third time serving as a Chief Audit
Executive, having served in similar roles at Southern National Bank (now BB&T) in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and EverBank (now TIAA Bank) in Jacksonville.
Jody L. Brooks rejoined the City of Jacksonville’s Office of General Counsel (OGC) in April 2020 and serves as
Chief Legal Counsel to JEA. She provides operational, transactional and governance legal services to the organization.
Ms. Brooks previously worked for OGC from April 2013 to March 2019 and served as the Chief Legal Officer for JEA from 2016 to 2019. Immediately prior to rejoining OGC, Ms. Brooks worked as an Assistant County Attorney for Clay County.
Prior to her public service, Ms. Brooks served as General Counsel at Allen Land Group Inc. and in-house counsel with The St. Joe Company. She began her legal career as an associate with Lewis, Longman and Walker, P.A.
Ms. Brooks received her Juris Doctor, with honors, from the University of Florida, Fredric G. Levin College of Law, with a Certificate in Environmental Land Use Law in December 2000.
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Learn about all the ways JEA helps Northeast Florida families, businesses and our community thrive and how we can help you do more.
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Electric Systems
JEA is proud of its Electric System and its reputation as one of the nation’s exemplary municipal service providers. Our existing generation capacity is 3,747 MWs and our generation fleet contains a diverse resource mix.
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Water Supply
JEA delivers more than 110 million gallons of water each day to our customers. We regularly test the water we send to customers to ensure its safety, as outlined by federal and state regulatory agencies. Our state-of-the-art technology monitors our water supply grid to bring fresh, clean water to your home. We work hard to help our customers learn how to conserve Northeast Florida's most precious resource, the Floridan aquifer, so that we may continue to benefit from it for generations to come.
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Wastewater
JEA's sewer collection system handles more than 70 million gallons of wastewater every day. Our waste collection and treatment system consists of more than 3,700 miles of collection lines, over 1,200 pumping stations and fourteen sewer treatment plants.