Meet Bobby: TNMPeople

Have you been to a business as a customer and have that visit lead to becoming one of its employees? That's how it happened for Bobby.

"I went to pay my light bill," he says. "They had a 'help wanted' sign."

Bobby's now a TNMP line crew foreman based in Texas City, a career started with that visit to a small utility in his Mississippi hometown.

He made an inquiry, received some information and was invited to test for a chance to get hired and be trained at a lineman school.

"I had to sit in a room with a bunch of college kids to take an assessment test," Bobby says. "They were taking the top two – and I was second."

Not just a job

Bobby's work in the industry has come a long way from when he was a guy taking a test. He now is the guy, as a foreman, who is responsible for making sure his crew works safely and the jobs get done correctly.

"From where I started in 2003, it's a big jump to where I am now," he says. "Knowledge-wise, it's growth every day. You never stop learning.

"... Line work, I love to do it. I still get the drive for it. I enjoy what I do. That makes the difference, instead of just having a job."

Riding with a purpose

Bobby has two other passions that, when combined, are good for him and others. With his wife and kids along, he's a member of a family-centric motorcycle club (Harleys, of course!) with a focus on community service.

From food bank volunteering to delivering toiletries to the homeless to one of the club's highest priorities – bringing attention to sickle cell disease – the motorcycle club is about more than just camaraderie.

"I grew up in Mississippi, one of the biggest poverty states in the U.S.," he says. "I try to help out and give back, because I know what I had to deal with to be where I am."

Bobby also has volunteered his time to teach electric safety to kids at a preschool in League City. One of the teachers is Edwina, his wife of 17 years, so that probably helped.

"She's my soulmate," Bobby says. "She's got my back."