Electric Infrastructure with Ameren Illinois
On episode #42 of the Building BN podcast, BNEDC CEO Patrick Hoban sits down to speak with two Economic Development professionals from Ameren Illinois —Eric Whitfield, Senior Manager, Economic Development and Darcy Conner, Manager, Economic Development.
Ameren Illinois, from their website, employs more than 9,000 personnel and provides power to 2.4 million electric customers and more than 900,000 natural gas customers across a 64,000-square-mile area. Ameren was formed in 1997, when Missouri’s Union Electric Company merged with Central Illinois Public Service Company. But the roots of the company stretch all the way back to 1902, when Union Company was formed in St. Louis, Missouri and Central Illinois Public Service Company was formed, under the name Mattoon City Railway Streetcar.
Whitfield, now a Senior Manager in Economic Development at Ameren, explains that he started his career with the company as a janitor. Whitfield says, “I actually started my Ameren journey as a janitor at our main office downtown. It used to be that it was kind of an entryway job. I thought I was gonna be a lineman or substation mechanic or something of that nature. Then I realized all the different career options that Ameren had. And there was this supply chain job out of our Calloway nuclear plant. And I was like, oh, that seems like a pretty cool job. I could probably do that. I've been in Ameren for 13 years. A lot of my career with supply chain operations through our power plants or operating centers, [then] stumbled into economic development. I have a great colleague, and mentor in economic development, and that's what he always says. People don't just set out to go into economic development. They stumble into it.”
Listen to the entire conversation with Ameren’s Eric Whitfield and Darcy Conner here. For more information about Ameren Illinois, please visit https://www.ameren.com/company/business-partners/economic-development. For more information about LOiS, a searchable economic development database with detailed information on buildings, sites, and locations for businesses to grow, visit locationone.com.
