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GARY
L. RAINWATER |
NAVIGATING AMEREN
THROUGH WAVES OF
SECURITY AND REGULATION
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BY PAM DROOG
Gary Rainwater could not decide on a college major until his high
school counselor suggested that he ought to be an engineer. He earned
a B.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Missouri–Columbia
and a master of systems management degree from the University of
Southern California.
But before he could put in much time as an engineer, in 1969 Rainwater
entered officer training school for the United States Air Force.
That was his first employer. He intended to serve his four-year
minimum and instead stayed 10. He returned to St. Louis mainly to
continue flying F-4s with the Air National Guard unit based here.
“Then the electric company offered me a job,” Rainwater says. As
it turned out, Union Electric, now AmerenUE, was his second and
last employer. Through growth and mergers in the company and dramatic
changes in the utility industry, Rainwater stayed put. Today he’s
president and chief operating officer of Ameren Corporation, Missouri’s
largest electric utility, and president and chief executive officer
of AmerenCIPS.
Rainwater
worked briefly as an engineer in Union Electric’s transmission and
distribution division in St. Louis. But he quickly moved into corporate
planning, where he was named vice president in 1993.
Rainwater moved to Springfield, Ill., in 1997, to become executive
vice president and later president and CEO of AmerenCIPS, which
provides electric and natural gas services to a 20,000-square-mile
area.
Rainwater returned to St. Louis in 2000 when he became head of Ameren’s
non-regulated generating subsidiary. In September 2001, he was named
president and COO of Ameren Corporation, which employs 7,800. “Gary
has a clear vision for Ameren,” says Chuck Mueller chairman and
CEO of Ameren. “Simply put, he is dedicated to making our company
the best in the industry in everything that we do.”
Rainwater says he’s a conservative manager, meaning, he’s continuing
“a long tradition at the company. It’s about our focused approach
to the business,” he says. “It means we are financially disciplined.
We won’t do anything crazy. We are not a company that wants to transform
the industry.”
That low profile, stick-to-your-knitting approach pays off for Rainwater
and Ameren.
“The way we distinguish ourselves is that we perform very well relative
to other companies,” he says, noting two important studies both
rank Ameren customer service in the top five to 10 percent of the
utility industry. “And from a cost point of view, Ameren’s electricity
rates are in the lowest 10 percent of the nation,” he adds.
Rainwater tries to visit with employees at one of Ameren’s locations
once a week. “Considering there are 120 locations, that may take
a while,” he notes.
“Over the past several months, he has traveled around the Ameren
system, talking with employees about his vision and the mission
and values that support it,” Mueller says. “All of our stakeholders—customers,
employees, regulators and shareholders—have come to appreciate Gary’s
warmth, candor and honesty during his many years with Ameren Corporation.”
Between employee visits, he deals with a wide range of issues facing
the utility industry. One of those is deregulation.
Rainwater explains, “We all know now, because of Enron and the California
crisis, that the movement toward deregulation has stalled. It’s
extremely unlikely in the future that states that are not deregulated,
like Missouri, will do anything.” However, he adds, 40 percent of
Ameren’s customers live in Illinois, which is deregulated.
“Customers there can buy power from any of a dozen suppliers, and
the local utility company just provides a wire service, like the
telephone industry,” he says.
Another major issue is security, although even before Sept. 11,
Ameren was prepared to deal with most security situations, Rainwater
says. The company recently boosted security at its Callaway plant,
he notes, “but even before Sept. 11 it was a virtual fortress. It’s
much more so now.”
Another big industry-wide issue is the next phase of environmental
regulation, “and here I need to brag a little,” Rainwater says.
“If you look at the 20 lowest emitters of nitrogen oxide out of
1,000 coal-powered plants in the U.S., 14 of them are Ameren units.
We’ve accomplished that, because we believe in being a leader in
environmental performance. That’s just a reality for us.” The company
also ranks among the best in the country in reducing sulfur dioxide
emissions, he notes.
When he’s not navigating Ameren through waves of security and regulation,
Rainwater helps guide several civic and professional organizations.
He’s a board member of the St. Louis USO, the Missouri Historical
Society, the St. Louis Urban League, the Illinois Energy Association,
AmerenUE, AmerenCIPS and other Ameren subsidiaries. In addition,
he serves on the advisory council for the MU School of Engineering.
Rainwater also is involved with the Illinois Chamber of Commerce
and Illinois Business Roundtable. In 2000, he received the prestigious
Missouri honor Award for Distinguished Service in Engineering from
the MU–Columbia College of Engineering and was named a Knight of
St. Patrick by the Engineers’ Club.
As a newcomer to the RCGA’s Economic Development Council, Rainwater
wants Ameren to help the regional economy grow stronger. “We’ll
do whatever we can to help create jobs,” he says. “That’s good for
our business as well as the whole community.”
Pam Droog is a frequent contributor to St. Louis Commerce Magazine.
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