Business Development Manager
Jennifer Fennell
Jennifer Fennell has been with Jackson EMC since December 2014 as a business development manager at the Lawrenceville office. She calls it her “dream job” and looks forward to many more years of service to co-op members.
Describe your roles as a business development manager.
Jennifer: Business development managers work with key accounts, which are our largest power users. We also work directly with state legislators in an effort to prevent harmful legislation from being passed, and to educate and encourage legislators to support electric membership corporations.
We work within the economic development world—which includes community leaders, engineers, architects, project managers and state and local governments—in an effort to sign on all available customer choice loads.
What is your work background that led you to this position?
Jennifer: I spent 16 years in the steel and building materials industries. I worked in the steel industry most recently as a sales rep; before that, I managed purchasing and operations of a building materials company. I have a degree in Ag from the University of Georgia, and while there, I was an intern for Georgia EMC with their legislative affairs department, so I came full circle in coming to work for Jackson EMC. I had been looking to leave the steel industry and saw the job posted on UGA’s LinkedIn site and realized it was everything I loved about every job I’d ever had—all within the same job.
What do you enjoy most about working at Jackson EMC?
Jennifer: I love the camaraderie. Our team gets along so well, it’s like an extension of my family, along with so many other people I work with including the line crews, customer service, the shop, engineering, and all of them. It really is a team effort to get a project signed and construction started. No one around here can do it without everybody else’s support and help. And that’s something I really like about this company. Everywhere I worked before you were very much on your own; here, there’s teamwork—and even more than that, it’s like a family.
What are the commonalities that make the Jackson EMC workforce like family?
Jennifer: Everyone here has the same mindset of caring for the member, making the right decisions for the members and being a part of the communities where we live and work. That family aspect is what we see from everybody.