EEI
David Owens is the retired Executive Vice President of EEI.
In honoring Kuhn with Public Utilities Fortnightly's highest award, named for the extraordinary industry leader of a hundred years ago — Owen Young — we salute the man behind the transformational "Power by Association." We do this not alone. What follows are the voices of a dozen of the industry's top leaders of the twenty-first century, about Kuhn's accomplishments, and the man himself. Including four utility Executive Chairs, three utility CEOs, four retired utility CEOs, and Kuhn's longtime key associate at EEI, David Owens.
PUF's Steve Mitnick: When in your career did you begin working with Tom Kuhn?
David Owens: Tom first joined EEI in 1985 as Chief Operating Officer when I was Vice President. I immediately began to know him because we were dealing with some meaty issues in the public policy space.
Transformation of the electric power industry and getting cost recovery for nuclear facilities were critical issues at that time. Tom called me into his office, and I gave him an overview of some industry structure related issues and how I saw the transformation of the industry taking place.
From there, we developed a great relationship because I am deeply involved in analyzing issues. I shared my insights with Tom. I noticed Tom was a great listener.