Background:
I have spent much of my career supporting gas turbine installations, maintenance, and customer operations throughout the power generation industry. I started as an International Field Engineer at General Electric in 1991. And in 2005, I transitioned to MD&A to further my career opportunities. Currently, I am the General Manager of Gas Turbine Services, focused on delivering safe, high-quality outage solutions that help customers maximize reliability and performance. What motivates me most is simply helping people.
What do you do here at MD&A? What aspect do you enjoy most about your role?
I lead MD&A’s Gas Turbine Services organization, overseeing outage planning, execution, customer relationships, and service delivery across a wide range of gas turbine platforms. My role involves working closely with customers to understand their operational challenges and ensuring our teams deliver the technical expertise and field support needed to address them. The piece I enjoy most is collaborating with talented people across the company to solve difficult problems and seeing the direct impact our work has on our customers’ success.
What are the most common issues you see plant operators facing with their gas turbines today?
Many operators are challenged by decisions between unit life extension versus investment in cutting edge technology. Coupled with supply chain constraints and longer lead times for critical components make these decisions difficult. In addition, plants are often being asked to cycle units more frequently than they were originally designed for, which can create additional wear and maintenance concerns.
Can you share an example of a project where MD&A solved a particularly challenging gas turbine issue for a customer?
There have been many, this example was an all-encompassing and complex project. Worked with a customer who has a mixed fleet of older vintage units and more modern units of the same frame type. The primary goal was to increase reliability on the older units as well as provide upgrades to match performance of their newer units in their fleet. Through our engineering, manufacturing, and supply chain, we were able to perform the service of upgrading the older unit’s turbine rotors, exhaust frames, and hot gas path components such that it matched the newer units. This also supported a secondary goal of optimizing their inventory control by providing interchangeability of capital components across their fleet. In enhancing the reliability of all the units, we also performed an engineering study of their gas turbine accessory systems and associated components, in particular the fuel gas system. We then implemented engineering recommendations, to ensure part matrix compatibility with the upgraded components, maximizing unit operability and reliability.
What’s one piece of advice you’d give to operators to get the most life and performance out of their gas turbines?
Accurately track capital components, which will assist in mitigating concerns on unit reliability and performance. This is part of a robust preventive maintenance program, which supports addressing small issues before they become larger problems. Consistently follow OEM guidelines for condition-based maintenance intervals and work scopes. Partner with your chosen service provider to proactively develop a safe and successful outage plan.
Why did you choose to work for MD&A and why have you continued to choose to work at MD&A? How would you describe our company culture?
One of the reasons I chose MD&A was the opportunity to work alongside a company of close-knit highly experienced professionals who create impactful solutions and do the right thing for their customers. Over the years, the company has provided incredible opportunities for growth, additional responsibility, and professional development that have helped me advance in my career. MD&A has a culture built around safety, learning, collaboration, and technical excellence, all with a strong focus towards our customers and our people.
What’s a skill or talent you have that most people at work wouldn’t know about?
I truly enjoy cooking. I read a fair number of books and watch a bunch of different shows to get ideas on recipes, flavor profiles, and different foods. Love having family and friends in the kitchen helping – it gives way for funny conversations and memories and mostly yummy dishes.
