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The strength of TVA is its people. An experienced, talented and diverse workforce of nearly 10,000 women and men committed – each and every day – to improving the quality of life for the approximately 10 million we serve.
At TVA, our unique, long-standing mission of service drives and inspires our employees to continually pursue new ideas and innovative solutions that improve our service to our customers. This year, we faced a unique challenge: keeping the lights on while also keeping our teams safe and healthy during a global pandemic.
Our dedicated workforce overcame these challenges, delivering vital services and support across the region. Our employees are on the job every day generating power, controlling river flows, restoring power after storms, helping the economy recover and much more.
Despite the challenges presented by the pandemic, our employees delivered for the customers and communities we proudly serve. We are committed to ensuring that our region continues to make a strong recovery from the pandemic.
Highlighting Our Employees
Our dedicated and talented employees are committed to TVA’s unique, long-standing mission of service. Through their efforts, TVA provides low-cost, reliable and clean energy; attracts businesses and jobs to the region and protects our natural resources through environmental stewardship. We are proud of their commitment of service to you. Below are highlights of a few of our employees.
Dr. Noelle Currey
In early 2020, Dr. Noelle Currey was awarded TVA’s highest engineering honor — Ike Zeringue Engineer of the Year — after being nominated by her peers and leaders based on criteria that include project performance, continuous improvement and a commitment to safety. Currey is a TVA project engineer in Transmission Power Supply & Support with eight years of service.
Currey received the award for a programming solution that checks electrical drawings with 100% accuracy to eliminate errors and rework. In under a minute, the program can evaluate thousands of wires contained in switch house panels — previously reviewed one at a time. The estimated cost savings for TVA is several million dollars. Her work helps TVA deliver 99.999% power reliability, as it has since 2000.
“TVA is built on the work of dedicated employees; and each year, we have the distinct pleasure of recognizing an individual who exemplifies excellence in the engineering field and commitment to TVA’s mission of service,” said TVA President and CEO Jeff Lyash. “Noelle’s innovation is helping TVA to continue to generate low-cost, reliable, clean energy — a key factor when companies choose to relocate or expand in our region.”
Each day, Currey makes sure TVA’s transmission power supply projects are completed on time and on budget, which keeps TVA power rates among some of the lowest in the nation.
“Noelle has distinguished herself as a leader who helps keep electricity flowing to our homes and businesses,” said Bob Dalrymple, TVA senior vice president, Transmission & Power Supply. “More importantly, her automated solution ensures the continued safety and high performance of TVA’s grid through lower production cost and error reduction.”
Currey is a graduate of the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering. Currey earned her master’s and doctorate degree in mechanical engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology.
TVA’s top engineering award is named for O.J. “Ike” Zeringue, a former TVA president, chief operating officer and chief nuclear officer.
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Dominic Norman
Waste (ash) Specialist | Chattanooga, Tenn.
From deep underground to a bubbling spring into a creek, then into a river system monitored by TVA and eventually into the ocean, groundwater is an important source for our bodies of water — both near and far. There’s a lot involved with protecting the source of this essential asset. Just ask TVA Waste (ash) Specialist, Dominic Norman.
Whether it’s ensuring that TVA projects comply with federal and state environmental policies or reporting any-and-all projects that could impact groundwater to the State regulatory agencies across the Valley, Dominic and his team are on the job. He juggles a myriad of permits and helps to mediate the relationship between TVA’s internal and external stakeholders, including Coal Combustion Residuals (CCR), various project teams, and State compliance groups.
“My goal is to support TVA’s trajectory in creating clean energy and doing what’s right for the Valley and its resources,” Dominic said. “Finalizing all of the many required permits can take many years, but I’m dedicated to helping strengthen these partnerships and ensuring we use the most environmentally sound practices.”
As part of TVA’s better improvement program, Dominic and his coworkers in the Environmental group are responsible for helping TVA’s retiring coal plants, ponds and landfills transition into an environmentally and socially responsible closure that could include using innovative reuse methods for their leftover coal ash waste. His work benefits both his coworkers and stakeholders across the Valley and helps safeguard the aquatic health of communities throughout the service region.
“Ash waste can affect groundwater if it’s not disposed of properly,” he said. “Since groundwater will eventually become part of our local rivers and reservoirs, our work in this area can affect the health of the water TVA monitors — impacting our rivers and aquatic life in the long run. It all fits together, so it’s crucial that we get it right.”
Football and Microbreweries
Dominic, his wife Abby and their pup Brindee have settled comfortably in Chattanooga, Tennessee, but he admits that the culture of his hometown and country — near Brighton on the South Coast of England — still calls to him. The beauty and diversity of the community as well as the sport, history, architecture and the food like proper fish and chips and good curries (the national dish of England), along with his extended family are what he misses the most. And yes, maybe even the dry, usually sarcastic and cheeky, English sense of humor.
“The area around Brighton — specifically the South Downs — is the best part of England. People might disagree with me, but they’re wrong,” he laughed. “Although obviously I may be a little biased.”
To keep a sense of home close to his heart, Dominic spends his vacation time traveling back to England and to new destinations (like India, Peru or Cyprus). He also spends time with his family and playing soccer (“real football”) both locally and with his brother on a team out of Knoxville that travels for tournaments, and he’s a proud member of the Chattahooligans.
Another favorite pastime with his wife is visiting microbreweries. A couple of their local favorites are Mad Knight Brewing Company in St. Elmo and Chattanooga’s geologically themed Hutton & Smith.
Changing of the Guard
Before moving to the United States in 2002 to work in the environmental and groundwater industries, Dominic attended Royal Holloway University of London for his bachelor’s degree in Environmental Geology and the University of Southampton in England for his master’s degree in Integrated Environmental Science, which allowed him to pursue his dream of traveling the world — which was a big reason he chose to study geology in the first place.
After receiving his degrees, he moved to Southern California and worked as an environmental consultant for two years, then did an almost-two-year stint helping perform a deep groundwater characterization study at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. Dominic then moved into the mining industry and worked as a hydrogeologist with the principal goals of dewatering the mines and improving the slope stability, allowing the mine workers to mine more ore in a safer environment. This job allowed him to continue feeding his travel bug and sent him bouncing around Alaska, Oregon, Washington, Montana, Idaho, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico and then further afield to places such as Australia, Indonesia, Mexico, Canada and South America.
“At one point I was stationed in Arizona for three years, but was only physically there for one,” he said. “I was constantly flying in and out, never really anywhere long enough to establish a meaningful relationship. When I slowed down at the end of my time in Arizona though, I met Abby through playing soccer.”
It wasn’t until Dominic’s brother, Darren and his wife had his first niece that he and Abby decided to leave the desert behind and move to Chattanooga to be closer to them. When he first got here, he worked for an engineering consulting firm with TVA as his primary client for three and a half years before becoming an official member of the Environmental team last April.
Dominic has been at TVA for nearly a year now, and he says he’s still getting used to the position and its responsibilities. Since he started at the beginning of the quarantine, he admits it’s been challenging having to settle in remotely. However long it takes though, he says he wants to make a positive impact — one that reflects his travels and unique past experiences.
“I look forward to continuing to learn from our team and helping us grow in knowledge and stature with our peers,” he said. “I know I have a lot to learn, but I have fantastic teachers here at TVA and I’m proud to be a part of TVA’s mission.”
Named the No. 2 Employer
In the State of Tennessee on the Forbes' list of America's Best Employers
2020 Diversity Impact AwardsTM Top 10
Enterprise-Wide ERG Award by Association of ERGs & Councils
Named a 2020 Leading Disability Employer
By the National Organization on Disability
Veterans make up nearly 20% of the workforce
Top 10 Military Friendly® Employer
National recognition
Military Spouse Friendly® Employer
National recognition
Safety: Top Decile
In recorded injury rate
Safety: Top Quartile
In serious injury rate
Inclusive Culture
At TVA, we recognize now more than ever that inclusion and diversity are integral to our mission of serving the people of the Valley to make life better.
TVA values an inclusive culture, founded on respect and compassion for everyone. This year we focused on the TVA Mission of Service and heard directly from our employees on how this translates to making everyone feel a part of the TVA family
TVA achieved national recognition for the fifth consecutive year as a “Top 10 Employer” for its support of U.S. military veterans in the workforce. We are proud that veterans comprise nearly 20% of our workforce and each adds strength and value to the entire organization.
TVA was recognized as a 2020 Leading Disability Employer for the second consecutive year. TVA prides itself on creating an accessible and inclusive space for those with disabilities and prioritized that initiative by starting ABLED, the employee resource group for Awareness Benefitting Leadership and Employees about Disabilities in 2015
TVA’s employee resource groups received a 2020 Diversity Impact Award from the Association of ERGs & Councils. Since 2014, our ERGs have helped advance meaningful understanding of and actions on diversity with inclusion throughout the enterprise and the communities we serve.
TVA achieved recognition on the Forbes list of America’s Best Employers for 2020 – ranking as the No. 2 employer in the state of Tennessee.
Safety: Our Employees Deliver Best Year Yet
Safety is one of TVA’s core values, and it’s an area where we ranked among the best in the industry in FY 2020 – top decile in recordable injuries and top decile in serious injuries. TVA’s focus on reducing serious injuries and strengthening line engagement have led to TVA’s strong safety performance in the last year.
Back in early 2020, Power Operations implemented the use of safety blitzes – a safety walkdown by employees from other sites – starting at Cumberland Fossil Plant in Tennessee. This effort proved so successful these visits are now conducted routinely during the first week of outages across the Power Operations fleet.
In Kentucky, TVA’s Shawnee Fossil Plant significantly improved worker safety by assembling a proactive learning team centered on improving how employees report near miss incidents, which helps trend the level of safety risk. In addition, our hydro fleet is piloting a new process at Kentucky Hydro Plant to improve safety communication between site personnel and contractors.
Our nuclear fleet has used observations to identify potential lack of Human Performance tool usage, which helps avoid potential serious safety events at our plants, such as Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant in Alabama.
In our gas fleet, including Ackerman Combined Cycle Plant in Mississippi, we’ve improved our safety suggestions process, which has contributed to excellent safety performance in Gas Operations with zero recordable injuries in FY 2020.
Operating across the TVA territory, our Transmission organization has focused on more detailed pre-job briefs to ensure employees understand the potential risks associated with their tasks. Generation Construction and Fleet Services has performed numerous assessments of our contract workforce and addressed problem areas, such as rigging plans, to improve overall safety performance with our contract partners.
Union Partnerships
TVA’s employees and contract partners are represented by 17 labor unions. Our partnerships with these unions go back more than 80 years and form the backbone of TVA and our ability to serve the people of the Tennessee Valley. This year, to ensure continued low-cost, reliable energy to residents across the Valley:
TVA and the Trades and Labor Council for Annual Employees announced a 10-year extension on their agreement.
TVA and North America’s Building Trades Unions announced a 10-year extension of their Project Labor Agreement.
Code of Excellence
In 2018, TVA and seven annual councils, along with the Teamsters Union, began our Code of Excellence partnership with a shared commitment to Safety, Professionalism, Accountability, Relationship and Quality.
Union-led labor management panel partnered to reduce grievances by more than 200% since 2018.
FY 2020 has seen the highest craft employee engagement rate in TVA recorded history.
Internal Programs
We pride ourselves on the enrichment of our employees through programs and trainings offered throughout the year.
TVA invests in employees through training plans and performance improvement. Our approach to development consists of 70% on the job experience, 20% informal learning and 10% formal training.
TVA established the TVA Employee Relief Fund as a response to the pandemic and increased natural disasters in our region. To date, we have invested $36,000, which has assisted 12 employees whose lives were adversely affected by COVID-19 and tornadoes.
Guide to Using TVA’s Annual Report and Form 10-K
This Annual Report is intended to provide highlighted information of interest about TVA's business and operations during its fiscal year ended September 30, 2020. This Annual Report should be read in conjunction with TVA’s Form 10-K Annual Report for the year ended September 30, 2020. The Form 10-K provides additional financial, operational and descriptive information, including TVA’s financial statements. The Form 10-K also provides important information about various risks to which TVA is exposed in the course of its operations, which are important to consider before investing in any TVA securities. The 2020 TVA Annual Report and 2020 Form 10-K do not contain all information about TVA securities that is important for making investment decisions. Please refer to the appropriate Offering Circular, and any relevant supplements, for detailed information about TVA securities. TVA’s Form 10-K can be found at www.tva.com/investors.
TVA Investor Relations
Click here to visit the Investor Relations Homepage.
Click here to view TVA's SEC Financial Reports.
Forward-looking statements and certain factors that may affect our business
We have included in this letter and 2020 Annual Report “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Exchange Act relating to our operations, results of operations and other matters that are based on our current expectations, estimates, assumptions and projections. Words such as “will,” “plan,” “believe” and similar expressions are used to identify these forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Forward-looking statements are based upon assumptions as to future events that may not prove to be accurate. Actual outcomes and results may differ materially from what is expressed or forecast in these forward-looking statements. Risks, uncertainties and other factors that might cause such differences, some of which could be material, include, but are not limited to, the factors discussed in our Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q under the sections entitled “Risk Factors.” Our forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this letter and 2020 Annual Report or as of the date they are made, and we undertake no obligation to update them.