Bobby Bennett has had a hand in keeping the power flowing in Greenwood for more than three decades.
From a newbie unloading coal out of rail cars to his position as senior vice president of generation/power supply, Bennett has thrown himself 100 percent into the job at hand.
Bennett, 54, retires today after 35¼ years of service. Eric Pollan has been chosen to take over his job.
“Bobby Bennett is a man of high ethical standards who was self-educated and has dedicated his total life’s work to Greenwood Utilities,” said James Quinn, chairman of the Greenwood Utilities Board of Commissioners.
Bennett first applied to Greenwood Utilities in July 1976, fresh out of Greenwood High School. He wasn’t hired, so he went to work for Baldwin Piano & Organ Co. About a month later, he received a call from Greenwood Utilities informing him of an opening.
Following an interview and after giving his two weeks’ notice at Baldwin, Bennett became an assistant operator trainee. The job included drawing schematics of the power plant — Henderson Generating Station — and plant maintenance.
“I went from a guy who was unloading coal cars and who crawled through boilers and stuff like that to become as assistant operator. After a year, I was an operator out here,” Bennett said.
An operator at a power plant has a big job, he said.
“He’s ultimately responsible for this entire plant when it’s running,” he said. “He has to make some decisions sometimes based on what may be going on; he’s got to try to make the right decision. A wrong decision could really be a blunder.”
The job requires a lot of technical skills, and he learned quickly, he said.
“I called myself not being qualified at the time, but I was able to be groomed by some other people out here who had operated and had experience. They filled me in on a lot of questions that I had,” Bennett said.
Even then, Bennett describes himself as a graduate of the “School of Hard Knocks.”
“You’re here, you see it happening, you remember it,” he said. “It may not ever happen again, but it happened once and you remember it.”
What he didn’t learn on the job or from his colleagues, he learned by reading on his own. Often he went to the library to read up on steam generation and other technical matters.
“When I did not have the answer, I would go get an answer through picking a book up and reading it and finding the answer in the book,” he said.
Quinn said Bennett also has a gift in educating others on the mechanics of electrical generation.
“He understands and can clearly explain highly technical and complex matters in layman’s language,” Quinn said.
In 1996, Bennett was promoted to assistant plant superintendent under the direction of Kimble Kelly.
“I gained much knowledge and experience as well as some needed improvement in self-confidence. He generously shared his experience and very competent level of knowledge with me,” Bennett said.
In 1997, Bennett was promoted to plant superintendent. A lot was going on there then, he said.
“We were upgrading one of our units and also adding a boiler at the time. I had the responsibility of getting that system up, getting it commissioned and getting to where it would run. That was quite a challenge,” he said.
Another milestone in his life also happened in 1997.
“On March 2, 1997, I came to know Jesus Christ. I could not have made it to this point if March 2, 1997 had not happened. It all fell in place at the right time,” he said.
Bennett says he’s had a group of similarly dedicated people working with him.
“It’s been a very well-run ship,” he said. “I’ve been blessed to have a very strong staff of operators and assistant operators, maintenance personnel and technicians. I couldn’t have done it by myself.”
Bennett said he’s not so much a supervisor as a quarterback.
“As you know, all 11 have got to be in sync and working together,” adding that he did “get sacked a few times.”
Bennett became senior vice president of generation/power Supply in March 2010. He has “been a key member of management and has played a most important role in helping build and shape Greenwood Utilities into the strong company that it is today,” Quinn said.
Bennett said he’s not sure what he’ll be doing after he retires.
He will remain active in his church, Mount Pisgah Baptist Church in Carroll County.
He said he’ll also likely spend much more time with his wife, Cindy, and his three sons, Andrew, 26; B.T., 22; and Jonathan, 17.
Bennett said his career with Greenwood Utilities has been gratifying.
“I’m proud of a lot of things that I’ve been able to accomplish here,” he said.
• Contact Bob Darden at bdarden@gwcommonwealth.com.
