August 11, 2021

Meet Greg Gibbs, EPCS’s newest Vice President – Eastern Region!

Many ECI and EPCS team members already know Greg from his time at American Electric Power (AEP), where Greg led the startup of AEP’s EPC program. “In what I affectionately refer to as the ‘good old days’ of AEP’s EPC program, I was John Ott’s Project Manager counterpart on the AEP side, managing the Holloway, Nottingham, and Lincoln to Berrywood projects while I was developing AEP’s EPC model and growing the portfolio,” says Greg. “From the start, I recognized Greg as an extraordinarily engaged and intelligent project manager and leader,” says John Ott, Vice President of Business Management at EPCS. “While he claimed to be managing projects at the ‘30,000-feet level,’ I quickly learned not to underestimate his knowledge of the minute details of the project.”

Greg’s no stranger to hard work – in fact, he thrives on it. “I’m a ‘doer’ by nature, so I get a ton of satisfaction from bringing action to vision, starting things from scratch, and helping take prior success to the next level,” said Greg. Starting the EPC program at AEP meant building from the ground up: Greg was responsible for creating the group’s strategies, standard procedures, and cultivating contractor/vendor relationships. “I find such endeavors so personally rewarding because I get to tap into multiple leadership competencies in order to bring them into reality: entrepreneurial skills, strategic thinking, sharing vision, problem solving, coaching and motivating, effective communication, emotional intelligence, delivering results, and change management, just to name a few,” said Greg.

The EPCS/AEP partnership flourished, creating several successful substation and transmission builds. “EPCS quickly established themselves as the ‘gold standard’ for EPC project execution and formed a true partnership with me as Director of AEP’s EPC program,” said Greg. “This partnership was foundational to the success of AEP’s program, because it proved the EPC contracting approach could work on a large scale for AEP’s substation and transmission projects.” So, when Greg was presented with a senior management opportunity from EPCS, the choice to join the team was easy, he said. Now, Greg has the opportunity to take EPC project execution to a new level within the Eastern Region.
Though he’s just started his position as Vice President at EPCS, Greg’s already thinking big on how to develop and improve the Eastern Region EPC work. In the immediate future, Greg will visit all EPCS Eastern and Western offices to meet with staff, get familiar with all projects in the East, as well as assume the Project Executive role for EPCS’ AEP portfolio. In the long term, Greg plans to grow our Columbus, Ohio EPCS office into an Eastern EPCS hub, document all EPC project management processes and procedures to create a Project Management manual, work on inconsistencies between project cost performance versus project budgets, and bring several leadership and communications programs to EPCS staff.

Outside of work, Greg’s a veritable pit master. “My hobby is Texas style barbeque (ribs, pulled pork, brisket, and don’t forget the sides) – I love to cook it, eat it, and talk about it!” Greg says. Greg cuts his own firewood, designed his own smoker, and even went to welding school so he could build it himself – “I call it vertically integrated barbecue!” he jokes. “In recent months, I’ve been blessed to combine my passion for barbeque and helping those in my community by preparing to-go barbeque meals for local families in need and homeless teens in Columbus,” Greg says. Other time outside of work involves activities with his four kids, ages 8-19. “A typical Saturday is spent spectating at my kids’ sporting events. If we get a free weekend during the summer months, we can be found boating at our nearby state park lake,” says Greg.

Above all, Greg says, “I’m thrilled to be on board and will do all I can to support EPCS’ ongoing commitment to be the very best in the market!” From all of us at EPCS and ECI, we’re very excited about the opportunity to work with such a dedicated EPC professional. Please join us in welcoming our newest Vice President!