AmericAn GAs december 2013/january 2014 20

the new

oreGon trAil

Combining a background in urban planning,

a lifelong passion for energy, an understanding

of policy, keen leadership skills, and eternal

optimism, Gregg Kantor is planning—

and expecting—a big year for AGA

Should you visit Oregon, Gregg Kantor is likely to wel-come you with a story that he feels sums up the place and its people:

In the 1850s, as American pioneers made their way west across the continent, they came upon Fort Hall, in eastern Idaho, where they would have to make a choice—should they head south to the sunshine and the gold fields of California or take the Oregon Trail, which promised a lifetime of farming in the rain. According to Kantor, it was a very special breed of individuals who headed to Oregon, and the spirit those people demonstrated is still very much alive today. “There is an aura about the Northwest,” says Kantor, “something about the outdoors and the environment. By and large, people choose to live here, and it’s a deci-

sion that informs so many of the other choices they make.”Kantor, 56, is president and CEO of NW Natural, a Portland-based utility

that provides natural gas service to approximately 689,000 residential, commer-cial, and industrial customers in Oregon and southwest Washington. But while Kantor clearly exhibits the skills and poise of a leader, his path to the C-suite was anything but traditional.

p h o t o g r a p h b y t o d d e c k l e m a n

oreGon trAil

prof i l e : gregg kantor , 2014 aga cha ir

b y j a k e r u b i n

december 2013/january 2014 AmericAn GAs 21

AmericAn GAs december 2013/january 201422

Kantor started out at the University of California/Santa Barbara, majoring in ge-ography and environmental studies. “Greg has always been fascinated by the impor-tance of energy in the formation of cities,” says former NW Natural CEO Mark Dodson, who now serves on the compa-ny’s board of directors. While this interest led him to take classes in energy policy and planning during college and later to receive a Master of Urban Planning from the University of Oregon, it also led him to sell solar hot water panels with a friend. And this has clearly followed him into his professional life. “Gregg’s clear focus on the people we serve and his keen interest in our communities and the environment set a standard for the company,” says Dodson.

The Intersection of Business and Public PolicyAfter graduate school, Kantor continued to work in energy, and it was this work that led him to a conclusion that would shape the next few decades of his career:

Politics is a big decider of policy. As he explains, “Utilities really are at the inter-section of business and public policy. We steward and maintain a foundational piece of our nation’s infrastructure that touches everybody’s lives; affects almost everything we do as a city, state, or nation; and is driven by a whole lot of public policy objectives.”

With his newfound interest in politics, he pursued an internship in the Oregon Legislature that, in turn, led him to a job as press secretary and communications director for Oregon’s then-governor, Neil Goldschmidt. His experience at the inter-section of policy and communications led him back to the private sector, where he joined NW Natural in 1996 as director of public affairs and communications. Thir-teen years later, after holding a number of other senior leadership positions, he became CEO.

In 2014, Gregg Kantor will serve as chairman of the American Gas Associa-tion Board of Directors. He brings to this role a passion for serving the public and

an enthusiastic vision for the role natural gas utilities can play in moving our nation toward a safe, clean, and secure energy future. His experience shaping the policy and dialogue surrounding natural gas in the Northwest has provided a vision for what he believes is a path forward for our industry. Often, he says, the environmen-tal values that rise out of his corner of the country end up taking hold nationwide years later.

Oregon: Leading the WayOregon was among the first states to enact laws overseeing land use, preserving beaches, and incentivizing recycling. Kan-tor notes that NW Natural was one of the first standalone gas utilities to decouple and offer a voluntary carbon offset pro-gram to customers. The company, which is almost 154 years old, is, in many ways, a reflection of the state, known for its ability to adapt and innovate. And with growing national sentiment focused on environ-mental issues, Oregon is clearly influenc-ing the rest of the nation.

p r o f i l e : g r e g g k a n t o r

“i spend a lot of time working on education issues,” says Kantor. “the most critical positive thing we can do for the communities we serve it to ensure that the educational system is functioning well and is giving a strong shot at success to every child in the community. not just the wealthy, not just those who are going to private schools, but every kid. race does not matter; economic situation does not matter. For us as a nation, it is the most important public policy issue that we have to get right, and we are falling behind.

“the educational system in this country made this a great country,” Kantor contends. “it drove us to be the leaders of the world in many ways. Falling behind, allowing kids to fall through the cracks of our educational sys-tem is unacceptable and an embarrassment.”

mAndAte For educAtion

Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden, chair of the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, is quick to testify to the role the state—and, by extension, NW Natural—is playing in shaping our nation’s policies. “Protecting our environ-ment is something that’s really in Oregon’s DNA,” says Wyden, who has known and worked with Kantor for 25 years. “NW Natural has been at the forefront of deliv-ering clean, efficient energy to customers and giving them choices about how they can reduce their own carbon footprint. Gregg has been a real resource as our com-mittee looks at ways to lock in environ-mental and economic benefits of natural gas, and I look forward to continuing to work with him as our nation transitions to a lower-carbon economy.”

The Art of the PossibleKantor is quick to note that his 17 years working at a utility in the Northwest have taught him the art of the possible. Part of this is tied to the evolution in consum-ers’ perceptions of natural gas. “People who have natural gas for heat and hot water really like it,” Kantor says. “It has a good reputation from an environmental perspective.” However, he adds, “we must also be willing to engage those who have legitimate concerns about our product. There is a portion of our public in the Northwest who would say we should only have wind and solar power. And, of course, they don’t understand the inter-mittency of those renewable resources. When you get an opportunity to explain those issues, to engage in a dialogue, you can come to an understanding about the realities of our energy use now and in the future.”

Changing people’s perceptions of natural gas has been a very positive experi-ence for Gregg Kantor, as he’s explained the properties of natural gas—the cost, how safe it is, the flexibility it provides for power generation, the efficiency it pro-vides for direct use, and its role in manu-facturing. And he’d like to see his fellow utilities making the same pitch. During

his chairmanship, he says, he wants natu-ral gas utilities to take responsibility for making sure the nation understands what an amazing opportunity it has before it.

“Natural gas is a key solution for our economy and our environment,” Kan-tor stresses. “We do not need to choose between providing essential energy to people and protecting the planet. With natural gas we can do both and so much more.”

The LDC story, this former press secretary contends, is a source of great power for America, as it is utilities that can enable customers to utilize our domestic abundance of natural gas and thereby be credible messengers. His confidence in this stems from a belief that, because we produce, transport, and deliver natural gas in a safe, clean, and responsible manner, challenges to this notion are easily met. As an example, he cites efforts throughout the nation to upgrade and modernize the natural gas pipeline network to enhance safety as well as the increasing focus on lowering emissions.

Bigger DreamsBut beyond this, Gregg Kantor has bigger dreams for natural gas in America.

“This is a huge, huge opportunity for this nation,” he says. “While markets will drive a lot of that opportunity, it’s also important to shape public policy in the process. You need an infusion of policy to help create the opportunities. This is about rewriting the future.”

Kantor is eager to extend current manufacturing growth by streamlining local and state permitting processes to expedite infrastructure creation for large industrial facilities. He cites the triple bottom line for natural gas as a trans-portation fuel: removing dependence on foreign oil, providing lower cost to the driving public, and lowering greenhouse gas emissions. He speaks of the trans-formative potential of inspired and big thinking harking back to projects such as the Interstate highway system and manned space flight.

december 2013/january 2014 AmericAn GAs 23

“i also take great pleasure in reading,” says kantor. “i’m particularly drawn to historical fiction.”

all-time favoritesJ ames michener: The Source, Hawaii, and The Drifters

d avid mccullough: John Adams and 1776

laura hillenbrand: Unbroken Ken Follett: The Pillars of the Earth

recent readsedward rutherfurd: New Yorkerik larson: In the Garden of BeastsGeraldine Brooks: People of the BookK en Follett: Winter of the World, Fall of Giants

an industry must-readr ichard muller: Energy Policy for Future Presidents

KAntor’s reAdinG list

AmericAn GAs december 2013/january 201424

“President Kennedy felt confident saying that we would land someone on the Moon because there was an organization behind him—NASA—saying ‘we can do it,’” Kantor says. “Similarly, LDCs can give our nation’s leaders the confidence to say we are going to create a natural gas refueling infrastructure across this country. I believe that natural gas utilities can make something like this happen and have the refueling infrastructure in place very quickly. We could end the chicken-and-egg discussion right here. America’s natural gas utilities could give our national leadership the confidence to make that leap.”

And this, he believes, would set the stage for a chain reaction: with this refueling infrastructure assured, his plan contends, vehicle manufacturers and con-sumers would follow suit.

Gregg Kantor is clearly an optimist. While others wring their hands, he points to recent achievements in both public and private sectors—from life-saving federal disaster response to technological advancements in every sector—as evi-dence that we have the capacity to achieve great things. Kantor believes that a clean, secure, and affordable energy future is mainly about seizing the opportunities in front of us now.

“Gregg frequently quotes such lead-ers as John F. Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.,” says Margaret Kirkpat-rick, NW Natural’s senior vice president and general counsel. “He admires their ability to articulate a vision of a better world and to inspire by their examples of persistence and moral force. Gregg believes that the era of high ideals exem-plified by leaders like King and Kennedy is not over.” Kirkpatrick says Kantor is particularly fond of one King passage: “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands in times of challenge and controversy.” Kirkpatrick believes that Kantor quotes this passage so often because, for him, public service and the utility business are two sides of the same coin.

Idea GeneratorsKantor credits a long line of NW Natural and AGA leaders with giving him a model of leadership to follow. Two of those leaders have served both: Bob Ridgley in 1994 and Dick Reiten in 2003. Reflecting on this, Kantor says, “When it comes to leading an organization like NW Natu-ral, with 1,100 employees and about 17 different locations around our service ter-ritory, there are a lot of personality traits that work and a lot of experiences that work. But I think there is a certain trust, a willingness to stand up and be heard that comes with that job.”

“You can see in the way Gregg ap-proaches his job and our industry that he views maintaining and growing essen-tial infrastructure as a public service,” says Ron Jibson, AGA’s 2013 chairman and chairman, president, and CEO of Questar Corp. “I admire that. Gregg’s passion for the transformational role that principled and forward-thinking leader-ship can play in shaping our future has inspired me and is a valuable asset on our board. I know it will serve him and the LDC community well during his time as chairman of AGA.”

In additional to Jibson, Kantor also looks up to recent AGA chairs such as Tom Skains, Bob Skaggs, John Somer-halder, and Larry Borgard. “AGA chairs continue to set the bar higher and higher,” says Dave McCurdy, president and CEO of AGA. “Gregg Kantor has the passion

and experience to join this long chain of dynamic leaders who have gained the respect and trust that it takes to lead an organization like ours.”

Kantor refers to his predecessors as gra-cious and well-spoken advocates. And he believes that those qualities can be found at every level within a natural gas utility and AGA. For him, AGA’s best practices approach is “an idea generator,” and he says he comes away from every AGA meeting having learned something new that he would like to try at his company.

“What AGA has added from a public policy, lobbying, and advocacy standpoint has been phenomenal,” Kantor says. “It has been a big part of the success of our busi-ness in the past and obviously is today and will be in the future. Our company does not have a federal lobbyist in Washington, D.C., but as a member of AGA, I feel like I have 80. The association brings a power of advocacy that a small or medium-sized gas distribution company could not replicate in any way, shape, or form.”

Building upon a track record of success at AGA will have Kantor standing on the shoulders of some very important and ac-complished leadership. The organization, the product, and the industry have never been stronger. But that isn’t stopping Gregg Kantor, ever the optimist, from pursuing some big ideas for 2014 and beyond. u

Jake Rubin is AGA’s director of public relations.

p r o f i l e : g r e g g k a n t o r

the outdoor life “So much of our professional lives are spent indoors,” says Kantor.

“I choose to live in Oregon because I like to be outdoors. There is

something about frustrating physical activities that seems to attract me.

I am addicted to golf. I love fly fishing. I have even gotten beyond catching

fish to enjoying actually being in the water and the solitude of that.

These things take your mind off of work and any other problems,

and there is a camaraderie as well that I really enjoy.”