As the Manager of Town Operations, Stephen has a direct impact on the community of Churchill Falls, and all who live there. His passion for driving positive growth comes from wanting to ensure all members of this close-knit community have every opportunity to bring their best selves forward, each and everyday.

Tell us a little about yourself.

I’m a father of three (Jackson, Casey and Max) and husband to Saralynn. I grew up in Churchill Falls and have now been working here for nine years. Outside of work and spending time with my family, I have a pretty active lifestyle. When I’m not working you can find me at the local arena playing and coaching hockey and I’m also involved in the Churchill Falls soccer and softball programs. My secret obsession is golf, but with no golf course in Churchill Falls I get my fix during my vacations. I also enjoy tinkering with motors – snow machines, dirt bikes and trucks.

Describe your role at Hydro.

I’m responsible for the majority of our Town Services in Churchill Falls, including housing, seasonal accommodations, recreation facilities/programs, the grocery store and several business leases and contracts. I’m also responsible for the Automotive and Heavy Duty Fleet here in Churchill Falls. I have a great team working around me which makes my job feel easy, even on the busiest days.

What made you want to come to work at Hydro?

To me, working for Hydro is a huge accomplishment – a stable organization with the important responsibility to provide reliable power to our province and beyond. It was a top choice for me because of the growth opportunities available. I knew that when I was ready for a new challenge I could explore different parts of the organization.

Also, once I had a family of my own, I knew I wanted to come back to Churchill Falls. Growing up here I knew the security and close knit community would be a wonderful environment for my children and family to grow in. As far as small towns go, there are many opportunities for young people here to explore their interests, travel, receive a good grade school education and have the safety and security of a small community.

I’ve always admired Hydro’s commitment to employees and their families. I believe it to be a very family oriented company that recognizes the importance of an individual’s time away from work. Hydro is accommodating and understanding and, for me, that is so important.

What does an average day look like for you?

An average day for me includes checking in and supporting my team with whatever is happening. I firmly believe my job as a manager is to, where I can, remove road blocks my front line supervisors may come across, and ensure they are set up for success. I’m also always working on one project/contract or another, whether it’s policy review, Emergency Management Plans or job planning. Each year my department sets goals for projects or objectives we hope to accomplish, many with the goal of improving operations or services for our town.

The great thing about working with Hydro is working with so many great people. Whether it’s folks in Human Resources, Finance, Engineering, Capital Project Execution or other departments in Churchill Falls, everyone is so pleasant to work with and are so very helpful.

What’s something about your job that you think most people may not know?

A key part of my role is Town Emergency Planning, so table top exercises and live testing of our emergency plan is a regular part of our yearly work. Two weeks prior to the recent Churchill Falls evacuation, in response to wild fires, I had conducted a table top exercise with our management group in Churchill Falls. We reviewed our plan, plant procedures and town evacuation procedures and discussed in detail what would happen if we ever had to evacuate the town and the plant.

Then when it actually came time to evacuate, the evacuation went so well. It’s clear that our plans helped guide that, but really the people here in Churchill Falls are so safety conscious and trusting that it made the evacuation that much easier. The response by the workforce and management group was astonishing. The amount of thought and work that went into protecting our town and the assets here, honestly it’s hard to describe. When you go through something like this, it makes you better prepared to respond in the future.

What role do you and your team play in ensuring Hydro can provide safe, reliable power to our customers?

I always say it’s hard to quantify what our team does to ensure Hydro can produce reliable power. But, when you think about it: we provide accommodations to our workers and contractors so they can get a good night sleep, so they are better prepared to tackle their day; we provide the food and meals our workers and their families need so they have the fuel they need for a productive work/school day; we provide facilities and amenities outside of work so there are places to exercise, socialize and take your families, which helps facilitate a healthy home life and mental space so folks can bring their best self to work each day; we provide reliable equipment so our employees can get to their job site safely. Sometimes it’s hard to see and quantify the importance of these services, but they play a very important part of the work we do here in Churchill Falls.

What’s the biggest reason you’re motivated to do your best work every day?

I’m passionate about challenging growth and change because my job has a direct impact on families in Churchill Falls, including my own. I want them to be healthy and active, and without someone with their finger on the pulse of creating positive growth, things can become stagnant. For me I really do care about the work I do because we are providing a service which directly impacts our community, our town and our operations.