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Profile:
Brett C. Carter,
President, Duke Energy Carolinas
Brett C. Carter, president of Duke Energy Carolinas, has the story that
rouses even the drowsiest hope. “We had a two-bedroom house. Mom
and dad were in one room and five of us were in the other room. The oldest
two were in basement and it wasn’t finished. We put up posters to
cover up the cracks in the cinder blocks.”
Carter was once a paint-speckled eight-year old who worked for his father.
Unlike most eight-year olds, Carter wasn’t earning money for candy
bars or toys. He was already saving for college. “I was the youngest
of seven. When I was quite young, I thought I’d take over my father’s
paint contracting business. Then my teachers got their hands on me,”
he notes.
Carter’s teachers saw college potential in the young man and nudged
him in that direction, but they weren’t his only teachers. “My
dad taught me what hard word was all about,” he declares.
So, Carter worked hard and saved and saved some more, painting and also
working for a catering business after school and on weekends, but when
you’re eight and nine and even 14, you can only earn so much money.
“My freshman year, I ran out of money,” he remembers.
Carter received a notice that he would have to come current on his account
or go home. There was no cavalry that rushed to his rescue. “My
parents couldn’t pay it and I remember how bad that hurt them,”
she says.
So, Carter had to be his own cavalry. “I went around the school
looking for work. A gentleman there was looking for resident assistants,
which meant room and board and a stipend. I took that job and the school
let me float the past due balance. I also worked at Subway,” he
reports.
When school was out, Carter took higher-paying work to become current
on his tuition. Whereas some people attribute their achievement to the
sweat on their brow, that summer, Carter truly claimed that, sweating
his way to his degree. “I worked at a cement factory in the summer.
That was one of my hardest jobs because I worked about the kiln, which
was 1,800 degrees even when it was cooling off,” he explains.
Carter earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Clarion University
and followed that with a master’s degree in marketing from the University
of Pittsburg. “I chose to go into accounting and figured if I had
a strong business foundation with accounting as an anchor, I could always
use that good, solid understanding of how numbers worked,” he remarks.
“It opened a lot of doors for me to do whatever I wanted to do.
I was 22 years old and went to work in accounting, knowing I could conquer
the world. I went to work for a bank and was doing corporate auditing
and learned a lot from that adventure. I was auditing all the companies
that had secured loans and was learning a lot about business, plus I was
meeting a lot of people.”
That networking experience gave Carter insight into his aptitudes. “I
realized I was more of a relationship builder. I also worked in retail
and did cost analysis and managed contractors for a major drug company.
All along, I was still in search of what I wanted to be and what industry
I wanted to be in,” he states.
That’s when poignant childhood memories nudged him. “The utility
industry had impacted my life as a kid that nothing else did,” he
says. “I grew up in the inner city of Pittsburgh. We were never
allowed to talk about when the lights were cut off. I realized I could
help people by building relationships in the utility sector. I was sensitized
to the lower income bracket and I wanted to make a difference and energy
is an absolute need. In Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, energy is part
of that shelter piece.”
Relationship Building
Nowadays, Carter, who oversees about 7,500 employees in the Carolinas
of the 18,500 total Duke Energy employees, views relationship building
as the cornerstone of his work.
“I have to make sure that there’s the appropriate level of
communication for us to achieve all of the successes that we have,”
he explains. “We have to listen to our customers so that they can
speak and be heard. I take that information and ensure that we always
better serve our customers. The communication piece is extremely important.
I work with the state legislature to make sure that we have the appropriate
bills in place to accommodate customers. Also, our rates our regulated
by a commission and I work with them to make sure that rate increases
are prudent and viable.”
Carter also works to make sure that the family members who follow in his
considerable footsteps won’t have to sweat quite as much. He says,
“Today, my wife and I have a scholarship fund for my nieces and
nephews for laptop computers and some of their college fees. When you
go through something like I did, you never take your education for granted,
which is why I stay so involved in educational opportunities. My nieces
and nephews spend the summers with me and I tell them that education is
absolutely the most important thing.”
And Carter honors those who helped him. “My MBA was paid for by
corporate America and I’ve never forgotten that.”
Likewise, Carter will never forget his father’s gifts. “I
never knew my dad was excited about me earning my degree as when I called
to say I wouldn’t be home one summer, that I needed to catch up
on my schoolwork, and that the school offered to pay for some additional
credits,” he recalls. “My father had bought me a car that
he’d kept at home for me. Well, he gave me the car that summer and
I realized that he wasn’t going to restrict me anymore: he trusted
me. It was a huge step in our relationship.”
Carter also foresees huge steps in Duke Energy’s relationships with
its customers. He notes, “We prepare people for the future. It’s
excited to be involved in energy, for we make people comfortable. Everybody
thinks about what we will do about fuel and we think about that, too.
We have several plans to help people become independent from the grid,
such as putting up solar panels on their homes and businesses. We sit
in a very interesting position.”
It’s not just an interesting position. It’s an essential position.
Carter remarks, “We provide a lifestyle that people expect today.
We make sure that people have what they need: When they come home, their
lights come on and their furnaces work in the winter and they’re
kept cool in the summer.”
Carter understands that Duke Energy and he are part of one of America’s
great accomplishments. “I still believe that electrification of
the United States is one of the greatest accomplishments of the 20th Century,”
he declares. “Energy is the backbone of jobs, our creativity, and
our comfort. It is a pillar of what we’ve grown to be. What do you
do that doesn’t require energy?”
And Carter understands that the work goes on. “I love that we’re
always going to have challenges,” he comments. “Work without
a challenge is not work at all. We face the carbon issue. We have people
with their hearts in the right places and we can prevent additional damage.
There’s also the issue of energy independence. To be able to influence
the direction of where we go and knowing that my children and nieces and
nephews will be left with our decisions makes this a fun place to be.”
If you want to work in this fun and challenging sector, Carter advises,
“When I go into my daughter’s classroom, I turn the light
switch off and I turn it back on and I ask them, ‘where did that
energy come from?’ So few realize where our power comes from. So,
immerse yourselves in theories and the concepts of where energy can come
from in the future. If we don’t get creative, we’ll always
have this debate over the right way and the wrong way. So, learn about
the facts first and start to create a bridge to the future. We need those
kinds of minds. We need people with the passion to create a roadmap. Creativity
is at an all-time high right now.”
As Carter’s five-year old son’s mood is at an all-time high.
“I took my whole family to the inauguration and my five-year old
has talked about it more than anyone. He told his kindergarten teacher
about seeing A-rock Obama. He still talks about him. He wants to know
when he’s going to get to play with Sasha and Malia.”
—By Katie McKy
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