Gulf Coast Power Association Honors Tom Foreman With The 2019 Pat Wood Power Star Award

The Gulf Coast Power Association (GCPA) Board of Directors is pleased to announce that it has selected Tom Foreman as the 2019 recipient of the GCPA Pat Wood Power Star Award.  This award is presented annually in recognition of the honoree’s significant contributions towards the advancement of competitive energy markets in Texas.

Tom’s career spanned 41 years in the utility industry.  Starting at Gulf States Utilities in Beaumont, Texas, Tom went on to consult in Austin before spending 23 years with the Lower Colorado River Authority. Tom then spent the last six years of his career as the third Executive Director of GCPA.

While at LCRA, Tom won national recognition from the American Public Power Association in 1993 and negotiated the first commercial wind power purchase agreement in Texas in 1994, which in turn was recognized as the 1996 Best in Category for Utility Technology by the U.S. Department of Energy. While at LCRA, he structured wholesale supply transactions in the deregulated market place that provided over $650 million in annual revenue and allowed 34 municipal electric utilities and nine electric power cooperatives to customize their pricing and power portfolio.  Tom also founded the NERC compliance team at LCRA. 

During Tom’s time as the Executive Director of GCPA, GCPA launched several new programs and significantly expanded GCPA’s geographic reach. New programming included the first women’s leadership conference as well as growth of the GCPA emPOWERing Women program and its supporting social media platform.  Geographic expansion included the creation of conferences for electric markets in states and countries bordering Texas that are evolving competitively.  Additionally, the GCPA scholarship program donated approximately $500k to universities during Tom’s tenure.  In total, all these efforts helped GCPA in achieving its mission of promoting and sustaining healthy competitive power markets.

Tom has extensive experience in utility and renewable industry trade associations including 15 years as a member of the GCPA Board of Directors including one year as board president.  Tom also spent eight years as director of the Texas Renewable Energy Industries Association, serving two of those years as TREIA’s president.  Finally, he served as Executive Director of the GCPA from 2013 to 2018.

Tom Anson, Partner at Clark Hill Strasburger and long-time GCPA board member commented, “I have known and worked with Tom Foreman since his days in private consulting, at the LCRA, and of course we served together on the Board of the GCPA.  He has always been an outstanding person to deal with and was able to bring all his experience and capabilities to bear in his years as GCPA’s Executive Director.  GCPA is indebted to Tom for helping expand and improve the organization.” 

“With each successive Executive Director of GCPA, the organization has enjoyed greater success.  Tom has done an outstanding job by expanding into other regions, establishing the emPOWERing Women program and growing the scholarship program.  Because of his leadership and outstanding organizational skills, I am extremely fortunate to succeed him as the next Executive Director of GCPA,” said Kim Casey.

Foreman joins an illustrious list of past recipients including: Marcie Zlotnik, former Chairman and COO of StarTex Power (2018); Trip Doggett, former ERCOT CEO (2017); John Fainter, Association of Electric Companies of Texas past president (2016); Robert Webb, noted attorney and renewable energy advocate (2015); Judy Walsh, former Texas Public Utility Commission (PUCT) Commissioner (2014); John Stauffacher, former GCPA Executive Director (2013); Mike Greene, former Vice Chairman of Energy Future Holdings (2012); Marianne Carroll, Partner at the law firm of Brown McCarroll (2011); Trudy Harper, President of Tenaska Power Services (2010); Jess Totten, Director of Competitive Markets at the PUCT (2009); F. John Meyer, former Vice President of Regulatory & Transmission Services for Reliant Energy (2008); Sam Jones, former CEO of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) (2007); and Pat Wood III, former PUCT and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman (2006).  The award is named for Wood who will assist in presenting the award during a luncheon on April 16th at GCPA’s 33rd Annual Spring Conference in Houston, Texas.

Pat Wood stated, “Throughout his long career in the Texas power market, Tom Foreman has been a thoughtful, inclusive, creative and loyal friend to so many of us.  His wise counsel and deep experience have earned him respect across the board.  Under his leadership, the GCPA has grown to its largest, and most diverse membership in history.  Tom Foreman is an exemplary Power Star.”

Tom is a lifetime Longhorn with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering with Highest Honors and Master of Science in Engineering from The University of Texas at Austin. He also graduated from the Public Utilities Executive Course at the University of Idaho.
 

About the Gulf Coast Power Association (GCPA)

GCPA is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting and sustaining a healthy competitive power market.  GCPA represents a broad spectrum of segments within the electric power industry and provides a forum for its membership of over 120 corporate and 300 individual members to discuss wide-ranging issues pertaining to the evolving electric market in Texas, the Gulf Coast region and Mexico.  For more information, please visit www.gulfcoastpower.org.