Mark Engel
Encinitas,CA
Summary
As a seasoned leader, I consistently exhibit adept decision-making skills. Motivated by proven leadership results, I possess robust analytical and critical thinking abilities. With a keen ability to quickly absorb information, I maintain a forward-looking perspective. Proficient in prompt and effective problem-solving, I uphold alignment with operational goals and maintain a clear vision for the future. I excel in communication, fostering trust with superiors, peers, and business partners through active listening and clear articulation. Organized, dedicated, and reliable, I am driven by results and oriented towards achieving them.
Overview
21
21
years of professional experience
Work History
Gas Construction Manager - Damage Prevention
Current
- In my role, I oversee all gas field operations across multiple C&Os, directing a team of 65+ employees
- Ensuring compliance with the Dig Alert Law is a primary responsibility, and I serve as a direct liaison to the Gas Ops Vice President and Director regarding reporting criteria
- We achieved a record-breaking year in the department's overall Damage Rate of 1.19
- Additionally, I am the owner of 11 Gas Standards related to Damage Prevention
- One of my key achievements has been in raising awareness of the Dig Alert Law among the public and contractors
- To accomplish this, I have implemented a strategy involving three Damage Prevention Coordinators who patrol the service territory, visiting over 2700 construction sites this year and making contact
- Furthermore, I have developed processes for effective collaboration with both internal SOT and Planning departments, establishing communication channels to contractors and homeowners on Safe Excavation Practices
- Lastly, I am responsible for establishing automated reporting on newly energized electrical services, ensuring that locators have access to up-to-date circuitry maps for reference.
Gas Construction Manager - Beach Cities
07.2022 - 08.2023
- In my capacity, I held the responsibility for overseeing all gas field operations at Beach Cities C&O, managing a team of 36 employees
- This entails managing the district budget, ensuring compliance with all related regulations, overseeing overtime, and approving invoices, all while closely monitoring workload and scheduling
- Additionally, I provided ongoing mentorship and guidance to gas supervisors, while retaining overall responsibility for addressing gas emergencies, ensuring safety, and upholding compliance standards
- Notably, under my leadership, two departments had achieved over two years without a reportable safety incident, a testament to our commitment to safety protocols
- Furthermore, I spearheaded the development and implementation of new Shut-In time criteria, with a focus on expediting the safe control of hazardous gas leaks
- This initiative resulted in a remarkable 60% decrease in control time for gas mains and over a 45% reduction for gas services.
Manager - Gas Operations Planning & Design
01.2020 - 01.2022
- In this role, I was accountable for supervising all Field Utility Specialists in Gas Operations and Design Supervisors, overseeing four design groups: DIMP, Compliance, RAMP, and HP Pipeline and Franchise, totaling 31 employees
- I spearheaded initiatives that elevated the safety barometer and employee engagement results of the design department to over 90% in leadership effectiveness for both 2020 and 2021
- Furthermore, I led the successful implementation of an SLA dashboard, which tracks the department's milestones and deliverables to ensure we meet our targets
- Additionally, I developed and implemented a rigorous QA/QC process, which tracks each project through the stage gate process, ensuring compliance with company and municipality standards and adherence to our SLA deliverables
- I also cultivate and maintain relationships with other organizations, stakeholders, and Senior Management to align distribution design with strategic Capital work objectives
- Notably, under my guidance, the group achieved an impressive milestone of five years with zero reportable incidents
- Furthermore, I consistently provide recommendations concerning objectives, plans, schedules, policies, procedures, and budgets related to project management activities.
Area Manager - Gas Operations
01.2019 - 01.2020
- In this role, I was responsible for overseeing all gas field operations, managing a team of over 100 employees spread across five operating districts: North Coast, Northeast, Eastern, Beach Cities, and Metro
- This encompassed Site Leads, Supervisors, and represented employees engaged in gas maintenance, System Protection, and Leakage Mitigation
- I initiated the 'Task Removal' initiative, which successfully shifted administrative tasks from supervision, resulting in a 30% increase in field presence and an overall presence of 65%
- Additionally, I developed and implemented numerous Robotic Process Automations, Power BI dashboards, and data analytics tools, providing a robust and comprehensive platform for sustained high performance throughout the organization
- Another accomplishment was the establishment of a budget reconciliation process, which in 2018 generated approximately 1000 journal entries, converting $1.2 million of O&M mischarges to Capital, with an average annual conversion of $0.5 million
- Furthermore, I provided strategic guidance and subject matter expertise in the implementation of ICS in Gas Ops and companywide
- Additionally, I developed and implemented various employee development strategies throughout gas operations.
Site Lead - Gas Operations
01.2016 - 01.2019
- During this role, I was tasked with overseeing all gas operations for the Northern region's operating districts, North Coast and Northeast, which included a team of over 40 employees responsible for maintenance
- I developed and implemented a strategy to restructure the operating model, transitioning from a generalist to a specialist approach
- This involved narrowing the focus of work groups and supervision, resulting in increased efficiency, proficiency, productivity, and safety
- The strategy incorporated elements of change management, technology, and processes
- Additionally, I devised and executed a plan to reduce the leak backlog and associated O&M expenses by shortening the repair window from 6 months to 3 months
- This initiative positioned Gas Ops to achieve zero leaks in 2017 and beyond
- I also held responsibilities for managing the district budget, overseeing compliance-related matters, managing overtime, and approving invoices, all while closely monitoring workload and scheduling
- Furthermore, I provided mentorship and guidance to gas supervisors, while retaining overall responsibility for addressing gas emergencies, ensuring safety, and upholding compliance standards
- As a result of my mentorship, three of my proteges were promoted within gas operations.
Field Operations Supervisor I - Gas Operations
01.2015 - 01.2016
- In charge of overseeing gas field maintenance and operations at the North Coast C&O, which included gas crews and locate & mark personnel totaling 15 employees
- Similarly, I also led gas field maintenance and operations at the Northeast C&O, which comprised gas and street repair crews, along with locate & mark staff, totaling 30 employees
- One of my achievements involved creating and executing a process to eradicate the street repair backlog, successfully bringing the workload up to date within a period of 12 months.
Project Lead - Locate and Mark / Street Repair
01.2014 - 01.2015
- I was accountable for achieving savings exceeding $1,000,000 within both departments
- I successfully addressed a backlog of over 500 street repair jobs by leveraging contractors and street repair crews
- Additionally, I revamped the timeline for addressing customer complaints, reducing the completion window from over two months to a turnaround time of three to five days
- By employing contractors to tackle the street repair backlog, we achieved savings of over $400 per job
- Furthermore, I closely monitored all locators' overtime hours and strategically allocated them to specific gridded areas, resulting in a savings of over $75,000 in overtime costs in 2015
- I also reconfigured work polygons to optimize efficiency, minimizing drive time and maximizing locating efforts, thereby increasing the number of tickets completed per day.
Field Operations Supervisor II - Gas Operations
01.2010 - 01.2014
- Supervised gas field maintenance and operations at all 5 operating districts, comprised of gas crews, locators, and street repair.
Certified Shop Welder / Welder - Gas Operations
01.2004 - 01.2010
- Welded both HP and distribution steel pipelines for gas, fusing plastic pipe gas systems and installing electric facilities
- Assisted crew leader in planning, coordinating, delegating, and controlling daily crew and equipment activities
- Coach and assist crew members in daily activities such as pressure control operations and facilities installation.
Fitter / Helper / Laborer
01.2003 - 01.2004
- Worked on gas crews installing and maintaining company gas and electric facilities
- Performed small pressure control operations, qualified plastic pipe fitter / fuser.
Education
Accomplishments
- Completed 2023 in Damage Prevention with our lowest damage rate ever on record in the company. This is a calculation formulated by number of excavation damages per 1,000 tickets marked out. These improvements can be attributed to the collective efforts of our Public Awareness around Damage Prevention campaign and the active involvement, education, enforcement, and ongoing program enhancements led by our Damage Prevention Analysts.
- Achieved financial savings exceeding $1 million across the Street Repair and Damage Prevention departments. These savings were realized through strategic elimination of a significant backlog of work by leveraging contractors when appropriate, coupled with vigilant monitoring of departmental overtime expenditures.
- Led the design and implementation of the Gas Operations Backlog Management Project. Created a training manual and provided instruction to Gas leadership on identifying and rectifying budgetary discrepancies, effectively reallocating funds to their respective budgets. Over a span of four years, successfully identified savings totaling $2.8 million.
- Spearheaded the development and implementation of an application aimed at streamlining efficiency tracking, damage reporting, and field visits through mobile data capture. This initiative resulted in a significant timesaving of over two hours per day for our Gas leadership, enabling them to allocate more time to working directly with the crews.
- Pioneered the development and leadership of a variance tracker, providing real-time insights into the status of each C&O's expenditure on straight time and overtime. The tracker distinguishes between O&M and Capital costs, categorizing the type of repair involved. Additionally, it displays each C&O's monthly O&M expenditure for straight time labor costs, alerting them if they are within a $5,000 variance of exceeding the monthly budget.
- Honored with multiple "Builder Awards," which acknowledge employees for their exceptional performance and dedication to constructing the cleanest, safest, and most reliable energy infrastructure company in America.
Timeline
Gas Construction Manager - Damage Prevention
Current
Gas Construction Manager - Beach Cities
07.2022 - 08.2023
Manager - Gas Operations Planning & Design
01.2020 - 01.2022
Area Manager - Gas Operations
01.2019 - 01.2020
Site Lead - Gas Operations
01.2016 - 01.2019
Field Operations Supervisor I - Gas Operations
01.2015 - 01.2016
Project Lead - Locate and Mark / Street Repair
01.2014 - 01.2015
Field Operations Supervisor II - Gas Operations
01.2010 - 01.2014
Certified Shop Welder / Welder - Gas Operations
01.2004 - 01.2010
Fitter / Helper / Laborer
01.2003 - 01.2004