Rick Green.

AuthorMCCARTHY, KELLY
PositionCEO of UtiliCorp United - Statistical Data Included

Facing twin challenges of deregulation and global expansion, this fourth-generation CEO of UtiliCorp United recruits directors to help with these changing dynamics.

IN 1982 RICHARD C. GREEN JR. is dealt a devastating blow. His father, the patriarch and residing president, general manager, and board chairman of the family-run Midwestern gas and electric company, dies. Going through the grieving process of losing a loved one is difficult enough. Now, along with the rest of the board, Green is forced to deal with the issue of who will fill the vacated seat. Emotions aside, it is clear that the issue of business must move forward.

But the nod doesn't go to 28-year-old Green. At least not yet. For now, the position is filled by his aunt, Avis Green Tucker, who for years has been working alongside her brother, Rick Green Sr., at the family business.

And yet, there is an understanding that the son will eventually take over the reigns as board chairman of Missouri Public Service Co., a local utility based in Kansas City that is now known as UtiliCorp United. As Green explains it to DIRECTORS & BOARDS, "After my father passed away there was obviously a discussion about how we were going to manage the business. At that point in time, I was an executive vice president on the board with some senior people above me and then Avis as chairman. It was only after I was able to demonstrate to the board as a whole that I was capable of running the operation and leading the organization that the transition happened."

From the outset, the board was aware of Green's history within the company. They knew that he'd started out working line crews, then came up through the ranks by plenty of hard work. What perhaps they didn't know was that it was the typical desire of a teenage boy that would propel Green into his life's work.

As a young man coming of age, Rick Green had his eye on an MG sports car. His father really saw nothing wrong with such aspirations. Though he did reserve one pointed question for his teenage son -- "So Rick, just how are you going to earn the money to buy it?"

Thus began Green's foray into the family business. To earn the much needed cash, young Rick got permission from his father to start working power-plant line crews during his high school summer vacations. He also learned how to climb 60-foot utility poles in the process. For two years Green toils, socks away his earnings, and at 18 buys the MG of his desire -- the British automaker's...

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