Page 6 - Tennessee811

Do a quick Google search and look up “servant leadership”. The answer you will most likely find is something
to the effect of, “A leadership style in which the goal of the leader is
to serve.” You may also read that those servant leaders are not after power or control. Why am I starting this article out like this? Because this quarter’s Damage Prevention MVP is that type of leader. He is humble and is never seeking a pat on the back or an atta boy. When I told Mark Welch, Jackson Energy Authority’s superintendent for gas distribution, that I was featuring him in the article, he was surprised. Well, first I reached out to Jason Brooks, who is JEA’s locator foreman. Jason worked for Mark when he was over locators. “Mark is a good guy, and he is truly deserving of that recognition.” More to come from Jason later.
Mark moved to Jackson, Tennessee in 1990 from Evening Shade, Arkansas. He followed some work with his brother and worked
in construction for 7 years with
two different companies. Those construction companies did gas,
water, and sewer work. Mark
told me that back in the 1990s that locate requests and the one-call usage was prevalent. Those construction companies he worked for called in locate tickets. Mark landed a career with JEA, formerly known as JUD (Jackson Utility Division). He started
on August 4th, 1997, as a water pipe layer. He stayed in water for about 10 months before moving over to the gas side in July of 1998 as an equipment operator. Mark did that for a while before moving up to gas crew leader
in the early 2000s. After being with
the same crew for several years, Mark became the gas foreman in 2007. At that
point, JEA was doing various stages of gas rehabilitation and replacing old cast iron mains with plastic pipe. In 2020,
By Jason Fryer,
Damage Prevention Liaison Tennessee811
I featured Mark because of his passion about damage prevention and his leadership style. Speaking of damage
prevention, JEA makes safety their number one priority. Mark talked about natural gas safety. “We must keep our product in the line to keep it safe. It is something we stress to our employees. Yes, we are gas workers, but we are involved in safety more than any other aspect. JEA cares about other facility owners, we don’t want to cut those other utilities and we care about our customers. We do not want outages and any inconvenience for our customers. With our locators they take the extra step, good communication with all departments since they are internal.” JEA has 31,524 gas customers. With the growth of Jackson, especially with Blue Oval City being built down the road, there are more hotels and apartments popping up. Jackson is still a little big town, and locals refer to it as Hub City because
of its location between Memphis and Nashville, combined with its history as a railroad town.
I asked Mark if he could give one
recommendation to others on what has made him successful. “When you’re here, be here. Do not hunt glory, be willing to do what they ask you to do.
If you are willing, companies can work with that.”
One last thing I would like to mention. In my 10 plus years covering West Tennessee as a Damage Prevention Liaison, I have not heard a bad
word regarding JEA. None of us are perfect, but I know JEA is a well-run organization. Some of that is because of people like Mark Welch. For those reasons and more Mark Welch is this quarter’s Damage Prevention MVP.
Damage Prevention MVP
Mark Welch
4 • Tennessee811
2024, Issue 3
Mark Welch Jackson Energy Authority
Mark was promoted to his current role of gas superintendent over distribution.
One thing that Mark focuses on is servant leadership that I mentioned earlier in the article. He does not want to seek anything for himself. Jason Brooks added a few thoughts, “Mark has always equipped the locating department with the resources that
we need to make sure the locates are marked correctly. On several occasions through the years, he sent crews with us to help us hand dig up mains and services to make sure we were on the mark. His crews are professional and that is due to his leadership.”