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Letter to the editor

Architect of change in power structure

By ASJYLYN LODER, Times Staff Writer
Published January 15, 2008

Michael Lewis, 45, has taken over as second-in-command at Progress Energy Florida, his 11th job at the company in 22 years.
	[Scott Keeler | Times]

ST. PETERSBURG - 32503. 1968. "Look up the ZIP code and the year," Michael Lewis recommends. "And you'll see how it was." Lewis measures the distance from there to here - from a tough black neighborhood in Pensacola to his new executive suite office at Progress Energy Florida - not in miles, dollars or prestige. His yardstick is personal. In his 16th-floor office, with the city of St. Petersburg stretched out for miles below him, he counts his progress against the lives of four boys. Same ZIP code. Same year.

But this isn't the first thing he says. The first thing he talks about is business.

Last month, Lewis, 45, took over as second-in-command at Progress Energy Florida, a St. Petersburg utility with 1.7-million customers. Progress Energy calls him senior vice president for energy delivery. In short, he keeps the lights on.

From the guy in the bucket truck to power lines for a new subdivision, Lewis oversees the electricity that comes into homes and businesses. The generation side of the business produces the power. Transmission lines carry it over long distances, like a major highway. Then the power spreads into a distribution system that runs through your neighborhood. Lewis oversees that last leg of its journey.

For most of Lewis' 22 years in the power business, electricity has been a one-way street. But with the increasing interest in distributed generation, like home solar panels, Lewis is helping to prepare Progress Energy for a future where power goes both ways.

Get Lewis to talk on this subject, and his careful way of picking his words disappears. His eyes light up. More than 6 feet tall to start with, his enthusiasm makes him seem even taller.

"It's awesome," he said. "I can think of no better time to be in this industry than today. It's enabling technology. It's freedom. Being able to control more parts of what affects you every day."

Lewis pictures it this way: a one-way street suddenly becoming two-way. He can't say when, but he figures he'll see this in his lifetime.

Lewis lives in Palm Harbor with his wife of five years, Karen Lewis. They have four children between them. The oldest is 19. He doesn't have grandchildren, but he predicts that they will understand power quite differently from how we understand it today.

In the story Lewis' family tells, he was predestined to do well. His work ethic was legendary even as a child, when he started mowing neighbors' lawns. But hard work was a lesson all around him. He lived with his grandparents; his grandfather worked in masonry, his grandmother stayed home. His father, Johnnie Lewis, pulled 16-hour shifts at a ceiling tile plant. His mother, Margaret Gregory, had 11 years of perfect attendance at Southern Bell.

His mother recalls, "When the other boys said they were going out, Michael smiled and said, 'Okay, okay.' But he always came home."

Lewis said he wasn't a troublemaker, but no one messed with him, either. He described his neighborhood in shorthand: four childhood friends. There's Lewis. There's a retired Army captain. Then there's the two brothers. They seemed destined for trouble. Sure enough, one ended up dead, the other on trial for killing him.

In the peculiar arithmetic of poverty, this is Lewis' way of quoting his odds. His mother says he always made good choices. But he looks out over the miles of city below his office and says with humility that his story could just as easily ended another way.

Lewis likes to say it could all be gone tomorrow. "But I have to be Michael Lewis for the rest of my life."

Lewis came to Progress Energy in 1986, when it was still Florida Power. In the 22 years since, he's held 11 different jobs.

Andy Hines, former president of Florida Power who has known Lewis for decades, offered this terse summation of Lewis' career: "Every job was a promotion."

A University of Florida graduate, Lewis got his first managerial job at 27 years old.

"He was young, energetic," said Hines. "But he had a willingness to accept responsibility and move on it rather than debate."

Lewis has held a series of engineering and managerial positions before being named vice president of distribution in May 2004. He remains the highest-ranked black executive within Progress Energy Florida.

Hines also described Lewis as engaged. Watching his easy manner with staff, it's easy to see. Talking face-to-face with customers and workers is Lewis' favorite part of the job. In the first weeks in his new position, he's already visited several job sites, listening to his workers, getting a sense of what they need.

Jeff Lyash, Progress Energy Florida's president and CEO, calls Lewis a "superstar."

With characteristic modesty, Lewis put it another way: "I started every job saying, 'I have no idea what I'm doing. Please help me.'"

Asjylyn Loder can be reached at aloder@sptimes.com (813) 225-3117.

Lewis' top three challenges

- Powering growth, especially around the Orlando area, and turning the lights on for redevelopment in St. Petersburg.

- Worker safety. Even one accident is one too many, Lewis said.

- Preparing Progress Energy for a future that might include "smart grids" that automatically put power where it's needed, where customers have more control over their home energy use, and where some produce their own power.

[Last modified January 14, 2008, 22:49:57]