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By Laurie Burstein
Gary L. Rainwater is passionate about two things – electricity and airplanes. The 58-year-old Rainwater is a member of the Baby Boomer generation and like other boomers he takes both his vocation and avocation seriously.
As an Air Force Weapons Systems Officer in the 1970s, he flew F-4s for 10 years. Today he owns a two-seater Piper J-3 for fun. He even talks about building a plane someday.
But retirement is a long way off. As the chief navigator for Ameren Corporation, a $17-billion Fortune 500 asset energy company serving 3.2 million customers in Missouri and Illinois, Rainwater says his mission for Ameren is very focused.
“We concentrate
on our “core” utility
businesses of generating electricity, and delivering both natural gas and electricity,” Rainwater says. He proudly adds, “Our rates in Missouri are among the lowest in the country—25 percent below the average in the United States.”
A St. Louis native, he grew up near The Hill neighborhood and attended Southwest High School. Rainwater couldn’t decide on a major
for college and “fell into engineering” when his high school counselor noticed his strong grades in math and science, and suggested he become an engineer. He attended the University of Missouri-Columbia and earned a B.S. in electrical engineering and then went on to earn a masters degree in systems management from the University of Southern California.
After graduating in 1969, Rainwater traveled the world flying
F-4s for the United States Air Force. He then returned home to serve in the National Guard. In 1979, his life changed when Union Electric, now Ameren, offered him his first job with the company. Today, Rainwater leads the company as chairman, president and CEO.
His 25 year career with Ameren has taken him from engineer to CEO. He began in Union Electric’s transmission and distribution division and then moved into corporate planning, where he was named vice president in 1993.
In 1997, Rainwater moved to Springfield, Ill., to become executive vice president and later CEO of AmerenCIPS, formerly Central Illinois Public Service Inc. In 1998, Rainwater was a leading executive in merging the Illinois energy company with Union Electric to form Ameren Corporation.
Rainwater returned to St. Louis in 2000 to head up Ameren’s non-regulated generating subsidiary. In September 2001, he was named president and chief operating officer of Ameren Corporation, which employs 9,000...2,000 in the St. Louis headquarters near downtown.
Three years later in January 2004, he took over the reins from Chuck Mueller, who retired after some 40 years with the company. The two worked together for 15 years and are still very much in contact, Rainwater says.
“I was lucky to take over a strong company with the task of making it even better and stronger. I want to build a values-based approach in our company. We wear our values on our sleeves. People need to see the principals we work by,” Rainwater says.
These core values include integrity, respect, teamwork and commitment. But the value Rainwater singles out is stewardship, which includes the statement, “We will be good stewards of our stockholders’ investment, of our employees’ welfare, and of our customers’ trust in us to provide their energy needs.”
Most days Rainwater is in the office by
6 a.m., so he can work undisturbed until
8 a.m., when his first rounds of meetings usually begin to discuss company strategy and performance. Acquiring other power companies in the region is one strategy that has paid off well for the company.
Under Rainwater’s leadership, Ameren purchased two struggling Illinois power companies in the last several years and turned them around -- now AmerenCILCO in Peoria, Ill. and AmerenIP based in Decatur, Ill. These acquisitions have tripled Ameren’s customer base.
Investing in advanced technology is another of Ameren’s accomplishments. The energy supply office (ESO) in the St. Louis headquarters building is a NASA-like control center, with walls of bright colorful maps and screens. Rainwater describes how all the power generation is monitored for its customers from the ESO using these new systems.
“In the last year, we’ve added the most advanced transmission control systems, which allows us to see power flows second-by-second. We also have the most completely integrated system in the country for automated meter reading.”
 Ameren’s Labadie Plant. All of Ameren’s power plants have computer-controlled emission systems. |
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Other innovations Rainwater points to are the computer-controlled emission systems for all of Ameren’s power plants. He explains the significance, “We have the cleanest coal-powered plants in the United States. Our advanced computer technology for emissions control has helped to make us the leader in environmental performance.”
When asked if the power has ever gone out in his own home, he smiles and says yes, but not for long. He talks about the big blackout that happened on the East Coast in recent years and comments, “I believe that because of our preparedness, our state-of-the-art systems, and our top-quality people, that we never have or will experience a major blackout in the areas we serve.”
Rainwater also is firm on his commitment to the St. Louis region. “Ameren has been here 100 years and we expect and want to be here another 100. We plan to be on the acquiring end and not acquired,” he said. “Besides, this is my hometown,” he adds.
Two people who know Rainwater very well are longtime friend, Frank Ivey, and co-worker Tom Voss, Ameren’s chief operating officer. Both agree there is a quiet energy and determination about him.
“Gary is quietly determined and knows how to gets things done. He sees things that others don’t,” says Ivey, his neighbor, golfing and fishing buddy. “But don’t let that quietness fool you, he is very competitive, yet easy to be with and doesn’t put on airs.”
Voss has worked closely with Rainwater for more than 10 years. “The best thing about working with Gary is that he always asks ‘what is the right thing to do for the company?’” Voss adds, “He is very performance-driven and cares very much about Ameren’s reputation.”
When not at the helm at Ameren, Rainwater helps guide more than a dozen civic and professional organizations. He is a board member of the Edison Electric Institute, the Boy Scouts of Greater St. Louis, the National Association of Manufacturers, the RGCA, Civic Progress, the Missouri Historical Society, the St. Louis USO, the Urban League, and US Bank. And he’s vice chair of RCGA’s new regional economic development initiative.
Ameren also has a long history of charitable giving and Rainwater points to The United Way campaign as a longstanding company tradition. He chairs the Tree of Lights Campaign and last year the company and its employ-ees gave almost
$3 million to
the United Way through company and employee donations.
Community safety is another important issue at Ameren. The company recently brought back its safety spokesbug, Louie the Lightening Bug, who was a fixture from 1990 to 1998. Rainwater says Louie is the company’s way of educating young children on the importance of safety around power lines and electrical equipment. “Louie and the new gas safety characters—Ernesto and Maurice—help us demonstrate our corporate commitment to customer and employee safety.”
Rainwater sums up his vision for Ameren by saying, “We want to be the best utility company in the U.S. We’re already one of the best and are gaining ground on the leaders. We pay the best dividend in our industry. We have among the lowest electric rates in the United States. Our customer satisfaction ratings are among the best in our industry. And our power plant environmental emissions are among the lowest in the U.S.”
Rainwater says his job is simply to, “keep the lights on and the gas flowing.” He jokes, “In this business you want things to be boring. You don’t want things to get too exciting.” Don’t expect to see a “melt-down” from either Rainwater or Ameren Corporation any time soon. |
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