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Longtime City Utilities employee Gary Gibson is now the 10th general manager in company history.
SBJ photo by Jessica Rosa
Longtime City Utilities employee Gary Gibson is now the 10th general manager in company history.

2019 Year in Review No. 5: City Utilities names Gary Gibson as general manager

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SPRINGFIELD, OCT. 17—It was a major shift in responsibilities for a longtime City Utilities employee in 2019.

Gary Gibson, who has worked for the utility company for three decades, was named the general manager, succeeding the retiring Scott Miller.

Gibson, the former associate general manager of customer operations and communications, is the 10th general manager in company history and was selected out of more than 20 applicants. He started in the position on Dec. 20.

As general manager, Gibson manages 940 employees and a budget with $643.5 million in projected receipts and $588.7 million in expenditures.

The 51-year-old has only known one employer after graduating from Missouri University of Science and Technology in 1991, spending time in City Utilities’ electric, gas, water and broadband areas.

“I’ve always looked at every job of whether I can provide value in the position,” Gibson said in an Oct. 22 interview. “With the opportunities that Scott’s been able to give me over the past couple of years, I really think I can provide a value.”

Gibson has big plans for CU in 2020: He’ll be overseeing $175 million in technology projects over the next five years. One of those is a $2.7 million application and new customer portal online that he’s shooting to roll out at midyear.

The app will allow users to track and compare usage to neighbors and pay bills. It also will have the ability to send notifications via email, phone or text about usage, outages and restorations.

Other projects Gibson plans to tackle are the $120 million fiber network expansion through CU’s SpringNet, a $50 million electric metering project and a pilot project for two all-electric buses funded mostly by a $1.5 million Federal Transit Administration grant.

“Technology is changing, the energy marketplace is changing, and our customers’ expectations are changing,” he said. “We need to continue to look for new programs and new ways to engage with our customers to provide value. I want us to be out in the community every chance we can.”

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