Fresh out of high school, Joe Slater was working on a construction site in Charles County as a laborer. He had an epiphany. He realized he didn’t want to do that for the rest of his life. That realization led him to enroll in some courses at the then Charles County Community College, now the College of Southern Maryland.
The decision to enroll in the community college has come full circle several times. His life path led him to become the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the College of Southern Maryland. And now this week, Chief Executive Officer of the Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative (SMECO) Austin J. “Joe” Slater, Jr. will receive the prestigious Leading Edge CEO of the Year Award.
The Leading Edge Awards ceremony will be tonight (June 11) at the Greater Waldorf Jaycees Community Center. Slater’s award will be one of six handed out at the 14th annual ceremony. The Leading Edge Awards are presented by the College of Southern Maryland in partnership with the Patuxent Partnership, the Charles County Technology Council, the Calvert County Department of Economic Development, The Corporate Center at the College of Southern Maryland, the Small Business Development Center, and the College of Southern Maryland Foundation.
Slater describes his management style as “inclusive – very detail oriented without overbearing.” He added, “I like to drive to a consensus. I like to work with a collaborative consensus.” He noted, though, that there are times when the buck has to stop with him.
The Bay Net interviewed Slater on June 4th during a tour of SMECO’s new Engineering and Operations Center in Hughesville. The tour showed Slater’s management style in action. He knew every worker and talked with them about what they were doing. He also showed familiarity which each activity within the building, including inventory control, customer service and manpower scheduling.
As a matter of fact the existence of the new 165,000-square-foot, highly secure facility is an indication of how Slater goes about the management of the ninth largest electric co-op in the country. Slater pushed for the facility to improve employee conditions and customer service.
The operations center was formerly in the basement that houses Slater’s office as well as the Tri-County Council. He felt the work conditions were inadequate for his employees.
Slater also wanted to advance customer service, especially in times of emergencies. When Slater returned to SMECO to become its CEO in 2002 every customer call during an emergency was
