Wallis named VP at Flint Energies

Special to the Journal

Effective May 1, Mike Wallis took on new duties as the Vice-President of Technology & Communications at Flint Energies. Wallis has 35 years of experience in electronics and communications technology, 24 of them at Flint Energies.

Wallis became the fifth member of the executive team, reporting directly to CEO Bob Ray. Flint evaluated applications from eight candidates and conducted interviews with four finalists.

“Wallis has experience in technology-focused leadership in cooperative-altering projects, forums for strategic thinking, and raising day-to-day service standards for members and employees,” said Ray. “Mike is well prepared with professional talent and a Flint perspective to lead this critical endeavor for Flint’s current and future service to members.

“Wallis will be responsible for bringing a cooperative-wide and holistic viewpoint to the table for ‘Pursuing the Potential’ of existing technology. And will be leading the strategic visioning, facilitation, and high-performance of all of the technology and communication systems of Flint.”

Wallis’ initial duties will focus on constructing the new Technology & Communications Department. He has an intimate understanding of the mission-critical, always-on nature of voice and data communications in an electric utility environment, according to Ray.

He has experience in IP networking and telephone systems (both Voice over IP (VoIP) and traditional TDM) and was Flint’s first-ever telephone system administrator. He designed and built a fully independent IP Wide Area Network (WAN) and multiple Local Area Networks (LANS) in outlying offices to support IP telephony, including voice mail, call accounting, call management (CMS), Computer-Telephony Interface (CTI), call recording, Interactive Voice Response (IVR) and Secure Access List (SAL) internet connection for remote maintenance access.

In previous work at Flint, Wallis instituted an ongoing regimen of inspections and routine maintenance for microwave radio sites that has resulted in greater than 99.999 percent reliability (better than the industry gold standard known as “5 nines”).

In the Air Force, Wallis also received nine years of military training including management and supervision, public speaking and Instructional System Development (ISD). He was an honor graduate of the US Air Force NCO Leadership School and the US Air Force Technical Instructor Academy.

He holds an FCC General Class Radio-Telephone License with endorsement received in 1990 when the test required demonstrating a very broad knowledge of radio operations, both technical and regulatory.

Wallis is a member of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) Cooperative Research Network (CRN) Smarter Grid Member Advisory Group, the International Association of Avaya Users (IAUG) Atlanta Chapter, and the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association (AFCEA) Middle Georgia Chapter.

At Flint, Wallis has served as a member of the internal Technology Leadership Team and is currently serving as the team chair.

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