Home » Our Team » Officer & Staff Bios
The team at Colectric Partners consists of many skilled and experienced professionals all working for the greater benefit of Colectric's Members and Initiative Partners. This includes the board members, executive team and those on staff.
Meet the people who are working for you here.
 Mike Brost
President and CEO, Colectric Partners
Vice President, Electric Systems, JEA
Mike Brost is the President &
CEO of Colectric Partners. In addition to his
role at Colectric, Mike is the Electric Systems
Vice President at JEA.
Mike
Brost joined JEA in 1983 as an
electrical engineer in System Operations, and was
appointed vice president of the Distribution Group
in 1993. Mike was one of the founding members of
JEA’s Corporate Strategy Team, and has since held
vice president positions in the Organizational
Development and Organizational Services groups.
Mike holds a Bachelor of Science
degree in electrical engineering from the
University of Florida, a master’s degree in electrical engineering
from Florida
Atlantic
University, and a master of business
administration degree from the
University
of North Florida.
He is a registered professional engineer in the
State of Florida.
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 Michael L. Kurtz
Sr. Vice President & Chief Operating Officer
Michael L. Kurtz comes to
Colectric after retiring from Gainesville
Regional Utilities’ as General Manager after
serving in that capacity for more than 16 years.
Kurtz has a Bachelor of Science degree in
Electrical Engineering from the
University
of Florida.
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 John
Carter,
Chief Financial Officer
John Carter brings more than 10 years of accounting and finance experience to Colectric Partners. In addition, he serves as controller for The Energy Authority where he continues to oversee all accounting operations, financial reporting and Member settlement.
Prior to rejoining The Energy Authority, where he worked until 2002, John spent several years with Hill-Rom as a finance manager. In that role, he was responsible for improving profitability in their manufacturing and service operations. John holds a Bachelor's degree in accounting from the University of North Florida and a Master's of Business Administration from the University of Notre Dame. He is a certified public accountant in Florida and a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Florida Government Finance Officer Association.
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 Frank C. Michel
Vice President, Projects
Frank C. Michel brings more than 25 years of electric project management, business development and engineering experience to his position at Colectric Partners. He is now responsible for the overall management of two 515 MW combined cycle electric generating stations, a 240 MW combined cycle electric generating station and a 165 MW simple cycle electric generating station. Prior to joining Colectric, Michel worked as a project manager and consultant for Washington Group International. He also served as executive engineer and consultant for R.W. Beck and Associates, and as the Southeast Region Manager in the mechanical engineering department of Ebasco Services Inc. Michel holds a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering and a master of science in nuclear engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology. He is also a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
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 Eddie Mims
Vice President, Operations & Maintenance
Eddie Mims brings more than 30 years of power generation, operation and maintenance experience to Colectric Partners. At Colectric, Mims is responsible for operation and maintenance initiatives for member utilities. In this role, he plans and coordinates the sharing of combustion turbine spare parts by member utilities. He is also responsible for various initiatives in the O&M area that will reduce cost and improve reliability for members. Prior to his retirement from JEA, Mims held a number of management positions in the maintenance department which included: Outage Management, Project Manager, Maintenance Supervisor, and Manager of Operation and Maintenance of the Combustion Turbines.
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 Tom
Harvey
Vice President, Information Technology & Chief
Information Officer
As The Energy Authority’s Vice President of Information Technology and Chief Information Officer, Tom Harvey is responsible for establishing the strategic direction of the information technology department as it relates to TEA’s business objectives.
Mr. Harvey has more than 14 years of experience in the industry, primarily in the design and development of computer systems, software applications, engineering and feasibility studies, project management, and cost/benefit analysis.
Prior to joining TEA, Mr. Harvey served six years as a Civil Engineer at a Municipal Utility District and several years as a consultant in both Washington and California with Navigant Consulting and Scope International. In 2000, Mr. Harvey orchestrated the development of the power scheduling and resource management system used by Power Resource Managers (PRM) for managing complex power contracts for PUDs in the Northwest. During his tenure at PRM, he served as Director of Systems while concurrently managing the Back Office for several years. When PRM and The Energy Authority merged in July 2006, Mr. Harvey continued as the lead for west coast systems, and was instrumental in the integration of west coast operations into TEA’s corporate systems.
Mr. Harvey holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil-Environmental Engineering from Purdue University.
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Gena Jerozal, APR
Director of Human Resources & Corporate Communications
Gena Jerozal is the Director of Corporate Communications for Colectric Partners and for our sister company, The Energy Authority. Ms. Jerozal brings more than 15 years of experience in corporate communications and employee relations. Prior to joining Colectric Partners and The Energy Authority, Ms. Jerozal served as the Site Communications Director for America Online's Jacksonville location. In addition, Ms. Jerozal was previously the Communications Manager for Baptist Health, the Employee Communications Manager for Comcast/AT&T Broadband, and the Assistant Vice President of Internal Communications for Citibank's Jacksonville office, respectively.
Ms. Jerozal is an Accredited Public Relations professional with a Masters degree in Human Resources Management Development from Chapman University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication Arts from the University of Dayton in Dayton, Ohio. She is a member of the Public Relations Society of America and the International Association of Business Communicators.
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 John
Goshco
Sourcing Manager
John Goshco brings more than 20 years of contracts management, strategic purchasing and supply chain management expertise to Colectric partners.
During his 8-1/2 years with a large investor-owned
utility, John bid and managed strategic sourcing
agreements as well as construction/maintenance
contracts for power plant outages. He was the site
buyer for two coal-fired plants and also worked
several months at a nuclear power plant during a
period of accelerated purchasing activity. In
addition to his purchasing duties, John chaired and
actively participated in various standards
committees.
John’s diverse contracting background also includes
managing multi-million dollar materials and services
contracts for international corporations in the
aerospace and mining industries, a major U.S. food processor and a
manufacturer of primary ship systems for the U.S.
Navy. John holds a Bachelor of Science degree from
Regis
University in Denver, Colorado
with a major in Technical Management and a minor
in Economics. He is a long-time member of the
Institute for Supply Management (ISM) and has
served as a board member in several local
chapters.
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 John Van Zyl
Sourcing Specialist
John Van Zyl brings with him
more than 28 years of engineering and power
utility experience. After a military career in
the South African Defense Force, John began his
utility career in engineering and materials
management at ESKOM, South Africa. He later
immigrated to the U.S., settling his wife and
two newly adopted children in Massachusetts
where he joined Bay State Gas Co. Several
mergers and acquisitions later, John landed at
NiSource Corporate Services as manager of
Materials and Contract Services. This company,
too, was eventually transitioned over to IBM and
John was assigned the NiSource account.
John has a degree in mechanical engineering and has earned the CPSM certification.
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 Melissa Willis
Supply Chain Specialist
Melissa Willis brings nearly 10 years of experience in support services and Lotus Notes/Database development to Colectric Partners. Prior to joining Colectric, Willis worked for Humana, Inc. as an Information Management Analyst. At Colectric, Willis is responsible for administration of the eMarketplace, Colectric's online procurement system. Her duties include organization, user and supplier maintenance, user training and support.
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 Donna Ricciardelli
Executive Assistant
Donna Ricciardelli has returned to Colectric Partners, as an Executive Assistant after running her own
Sign-A-Rama franchise for three years, bringing more
than 35 years of executive administrative experience
with her.
Ms. Ricciardelli has a varied background including
supporting the President and CEO of the Federal Home
Loan Bank of Dallas and serving as the Sales and
Marketing Coordinator at BE&K, Inc., Birmingham,
Alabama. In that position, she assisted in many
phases of project tracking from marketing to
completion.
In
addition, she has been the secretary for the
President of Eastern Seaboard Petroleum, a supplier
of heavy fuels for Jacksonville-based industries,
spent several years with the Florida Legislature as
Committee Secretary to the Senate Committee on
Health and Rehabilitative Services, and was the
Executive Secretary for Senator Bruce Smathers.Back to top
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