For the past 30+ years, I’ve worked in the energy industry. Over that time I’ve worked with some great projects but what actually makes a project great? It’s the leadership and the people. It’s my distinct honor to recognize the one individual who has impressed me more than any other plant manager I’ve worked with over my career and that person is Kent Ripplinger. Having started my career at a 6000MW IOU with a large portfolio of projects to most recently working for large IPP I’ve worked with some really great plant managers so when I tell you Kent is as good as it gets, I kinda know what I’m talking about. Back when I started, we thought we were doing well if we could leg together a few hundred days or maybe a year without a lost time accident. Don’t get me wrong, we very much cared about the safety of all of our employees but we struggled to get our folks to internalize that message. Over time, I’ve had a few projects start to extend our accident free records which at the time I thought was impressive or at least I did until I met Kent. I worked with Kent for close to seven years overseeing his project along with a handful of other projects. From the very start, Kent personified true leadership. As our projects and employees age, things tend to happen but not under Kent’s watchful eye. This guy was just born to lead and his employees know his biggest concern is for their wellbeing. Kent developed new ways to keep safety front and center and it worked and I mean it really worked. As of the day I write this recommendation, Cottage Grove has gone 8430 days without a lost time accident. That’s 23 years where each and every employee under Kent’s watch, returned home safely each day to their families. 23 years folks and they are still going strong. It seems surreal to me and had I not seen it with my own two eyes I still would have a hard time believing it. If you were to ask Kent about this, he would be the last person to take credit and to be fair, it is a team effort but I assure you, each and every employee had the best of the best leading the way. 23 years.. Now we all know a plant manager wears many hats and what I’ve shared above is only a small glimpse of Kent’s character. I can say I’ve seen Kent squeeze a dollar as tight as a drum and find ways with limited resources to keep his employees safe and to keep his plant running reliably. I recently accepted a new challenge with another company so now that I’ve left I can finally write what’s been in my head and heart for years. My fear was of I wrote this earlier, someone would steal Kent away from us.. Ok, maybe I’m embellishing the last part a bit to inject a little humor but by now you get my point. This guy is as good as it gets and Kent my friend, it’s been an absolute honor working with you.

For the past 30+ years, I’ve worked in the energy industry. Over that time I’ve worked with some great projects but what actually makes a project great? It’s the leadership and the people. It’s my distinct honor to recognize the one individual who has impressed me more than any other plant manager I’ve worked with over my career and that person is Kent Ripplinger. Having started my career at a 6000MW IOU with a large portfolio of projects to most recently working for large IPP I’ve worked with some really great plant managers so when I tell you Kent is as good as it gets, I kinda know what I’m talking about. Back when I started, we thought we were doing well if we could leg together a few hundred days or maybe a year without a lost time accident. Don’t get me wrong, we very much cared about the safety of all of our employees but we struggled to get our folks to internalize that message. Over time, I’ve had a few projects start to extend our accident free records which at the time I thought was impressive or at least I did until I met Kent. I worked with Kent for close to seven years overseeing his project along with a handful of other projects. From the very start, Kent personified true leadership. As our projects and employees age, things tend to happen but not under Kent’s watchful eye. This guy was just born to lead and his employees know his biggest concern is for their wellbeing. Kent developed new ways to keep safety front and center and it worked and I mean it really worked. As of the day I write this recommendation, Cottage Grove has gone 8430 days without a lost time accident. That’s 23 years where each and every employee under Kent’s watch, returned home safely each day to their families. 23 years folks and they are still going strong. It seems surreal to me and had I not seen it with my own two eyes I still would have a hard time believing it. If you were to ask Kent about this, he would be the last person to take credit and to be fair, it is a team effort but I assure you, each and every employee had the best of the best leading the way. 23 years.. Now we all know a plant manager wears many hats and what I’ve shared above is only a small glimpse of Kent’s character. I can say I’ve seen Kent squeeze a dollar as tight as a drum and find ways with limited resources to keep his employees safe and to keep his plant running reliably. I recently accepted a new challenge with another company so now that I’ve left I can finally write what’s been in my head and heart for years. My fear was of I wrote this earlier, someone would steal Kent away from us.. Ok, maybe I’m embellishing the last part a bit to inject a little humor but by now you get my point. This guy is as good as it gets and Kent my friend, it’s been an absolute honor working with you.

For the past 30+ years, I’ve worked in the energy industry. Over that time I’ve worked with some great projects but what actually makes a project great? It’s the leadership and the people. It’s my distinct honor to recognize the one individual who has impressed me more than any other plant manager I’ve worked with over my career and that person is Kent Ripplinger. Having started my career at a 6000MW IOU with a large portfolio of projects to most recently working for large IPP I’ve worked with some really great plant managers so when I tell you Kent is as good as it gets, I kinda know what I’m talking about. Back when I started, we thought we were doing well if we could leg together a few hundred days or maybe a year without a lost time accident. Don’t get me wrong, we very much cared about the safety of all of our employees but we struggled to get our folks to internalize that message. Over time, I’ve had a few projects start to extend our accident free records which at the time I thought was impressive or at least I did until I met Kent. I worked with Kent for close to seven years overseeing his project along with a handful of other projects. From the very start, Kent personified true leadership. As our projects and employees age, things tend to happen but not under Kent’s watchful eye. This guy was just born to lead and his employees know his biggest concern is for their wellbeing. Kent developed new ways to keep safety front and center and it worked and I mean it really worked. As of the day I write this recommendation, Cottage Grove has gone 8430 days without a lost time accident. That’s 23 years where each and every employee under Kent’s watch, returned home safely each day to their families. 23 years folks and they are still going strong. It seems surreal to me and had I not seen it with my own two eyes I still would have a hard time believing it. If you were to ask Kent about this, he would be the last person to take credit and to be fair, it is a team effort but I assure you, each and every employee had the best of the best leading the way. 23 years.. Now we all know a plant manager wears many hats and what I’ve shared above is only a small glimpse of Kent’s character. I can say I’ve seen Kent squeeze a dollar as tight as a drum and find ways with limited resources to keep his employees safe and to keep his plant running reliably. I recently accepted a new challenge with another company so now that I’ve left I can finally write what’s been in my head and heart for years. My fear was of I wrote this earlier, someone would steal Kent away from us.. Ok, maybe I’m embellishing the last part a bit to inject a little humor but by now you get my point. This guy is as good as it gets and Kent my friend, it’s been an absolute honor working with you.