March 28, 2024

Sink or Swim

Denise Vidal took on her CEO's job amid a host of challenges.

Art Levy | 8/19/2020

When Denise Vidal became executive vice president and CEO of the Lee County Electric Cooperative last year, she didn’t get to enjoy a leisurely period of adjustment. Rather, the one-time CFO had to prepare for an approaching hurricane season and manage the impact of a burgeoning pandemic. Vidal — promoted to replace Dennie Hamilton, who retired after 12 years as CEO — talked to Florida Trend about her new role at the North Fort Myers-based co-op, which provides electricity to a five-county swath of Southwest Florida. 

 Adjustment Period: “I stepped into the CEO role at the end of 2019. At the time, LCEC was in the early stages of transitioning to a process aligned organization, which entails a great deal of change. I was prepared to champion that change along with other culture transformation initiatives. Who knew our work environment would be turned upside down by a pandemic? Although COVID-19 has been tragic in many ways, it has given me the opportunity to extend my ability as a leader. Employees at every level stepped up, and we have been able to adapt and pivot in many ways to continue serving our customers seamlessly. Together we have focused on transparency and listening to all voices, which reinforces the trust within the team. It hasn’t been an easy journey for us, but we are stronger at every level due to the challenge.”

 From COVID-19 to Storm Season: “My goal has remained steady and aligns with our mission — to deliver reliable electricity and quality service to our customers at a competitive rate. Of course, the pandemic has been a challenge that wasn’t part of my 90-day plan (or my 360-day plan). Fortunately, our financial position was strong enough to allow us to meet demand for new services. Southwest Florida is still a very desirable area for new residents. We have also been able to continue system maintenance and storm hardening to prepare for storm season. We were also able to consider relief to customers by suspending disconnections for non-payment and retire $12 million in equity as planned. Preparing for the unknown of a potential hurricane during COVID-19 provided another aspect to our response plan. We gathered information early, included employees in our planning process and communicated to them often. The specific objectives changed due to the circumstances, but the overarching goal always remains the same — to restore power as quickly as possible should we have a hurricane.”

 Looking Ahead: “LCEC has an 80-year mission of serving member needs, and I don’t want to see that change. At the same time, we want to grow with our members and meet their changing needs in efficient and cost-effective ways. We have not increased rates in 12 years. I know that as the cost of power, labor, materials and just about everything else increases, we must be creative and diligent in improving our processes. Continuing to work efficiently will help us keep costs in check.”

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