Meet Titus: TNMPeople

Central to meeting oil boom growth

Titus admits that moving to Pecos was quite a change for him. Originally from Nigeria, he had been in the United States for many years. But ...

"When I moved from Ohio to Texas, it was a big shock," he says. "It was a big transition moving to Pecos."

More than 15 years later, though, and he finds that Pecos suits him very well. He credits the friendly people.

A boom in West Texas

There are a lot more people in Pecos these days, thanks to the oil boom.

Titus, our West Texas distribution engineering supervisor, is central to TNMP being able to expand the electricity system to match the growth. The system is affected not only by electricity-hungry pump jacks and saltwater-disposal facilities, but also by new housing and other construction in town.

Titus supervises system designers, who evaluate and plan the best ways to deliver electricity to new points of service. Demand for new service in Pecos has been so high, additional system designers have been rotated in from other TNMP-served areas to help.

"Before 2010, we were hearing that it was going to take off," Titus says. "But at that time, it went way up. I started to see (requests for new service) double or triple what we'd seen before."

Finding a passion

Titus has seen Pecos before and during the most recent boom. He's found a home there, including previously serving as president of the Pecos Rotary Club and currently serving on the board.

One of his passions that comes from his time with the Rotary Club is raising awareness of – and funds to fight – polio. While polio no longer is present in the United States, Nigeria was one of the countries that still hadn't eradicated it a few years ago. But worldwide efforts – and local efforts from people like Titus – have made a difference in his home country.

"They declared that Nigeria is polio-free," says Titus. "I'm so happy about that. But we still have work to do."