Meet Tommy: TNMPeople

Keeping up with growing communities

Tommy is one of the people who will be critical if your community is going to need a lot more power delivered.

Increasing and upgrading our power transmission capabilities is a key part of Tommy's job as an engineering project manager. In a profession and an industry that can be very complex, particularly for the uninitiated, he can explain what he does in very simple language.

"I design power lines," says Tommy, who is based in Lewisville. "I manage the projects."

Completing those projects, and thereby increasing TNMP's capability to deliver sufficient power in any given area, is vital for keeping the lights on. That's particularly the case in areas where more homes and businesses are being located and power consumption is increasing.

Tommy's projects involve transmission power lines, the taller structures you see that move power longer distances, and substations, where voltage is decreased in preparation for delivering power to your home or business.

Before moving to the DFW Metroplex and joining TNMP in 2014, Tommy worked in a very similar role in Amarillo for another utility.

Along with driving transmission projects there, he also was a very driven youth sports coach/dad for his three kids – two girls and a boy. He coached soccer, basketball, football, baseball, T-ball, softball and volleyball.

"I coached them at least once in each sport," Tommy says. "For 10 years, starting every sports season, I was coaching something."

Now that the kids are a little older, he can kick back and be a sports fan again.

"I'll watch any sport on TV," he says, "from table tennis to lacrosse to major sports."

He enjoys playing basketball and golf in his spare time. But during his work time, he's helping to keep the lights on in a way that you may not see, but that is important for growing communities.