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The following feature story appeared in the campus publication MOSAIC in September, 1997.
Charles Gooley
Meeting corporate challenges head-on at Yankee Energy Systems
Three years after graduating from law school and becoming the first African-American assistant attorney general for the state of Connecticut, Charles E. Gooley '75 knew he wanted to be more than a legal adviser. Handling general litigation and prosecuting people charged with violating the state's anti-discrimination laws for the Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities were very gratifying. But the frustration associated with giving unheeded legal advice, coupled with the interesting experiences of his colleagues in the private sector, convinced Gooley to shift gears and pursue the challenges of corporate decision making.When he joined the legal department of Connecticut-based Northeast Utilities (NU) in 1981 as counsel, Gooley began his transition to the role of decision maker. He spent eight years handling rate cases before the Public Utility Control Authority. Then in 1989 he became a key player in the divestiture of NU's gas subsidiary and the creation of Yankee Energy Systems, Inc., the largest natural gas distribution company in Connecticut. He describes the event as the turning point of his career.
"We had to create a new company, decide where our facilities were going to be, transfer buildings, transfer employees, open bank accounts, set up relations with a stock transfer agent to handle the shares for this new company, and deal with investment bankers and insurance, environmental, and liability issues. We had 18 months to do it all. We did it right on schedule," he recalls.
His role and performance during the divestiture brought him closer to his objective. On January 1, 1989, he was named vice president and general counsel of Yankee Energy Systems, Inc., headquartered in Meriden, CT. While continuing his legal duties, he also became responsible for overseeing Yankee's real estate concerns, such as easements and rights-of-way, and administration, including public affairs and risk management. In 1995 he relinquished legal work altogether when he was named executive vice president and took the helm of a yearlong, corporate-wide re-engineering project. His efforts resulted in reduced costs and improved service -- as well as yet another promotion earlier this year. Gooley is now president of the company's regulated subsidiary, Yankee Gas Services Co., which provides service to some 180,000 Connecticut customers.
Thinking and challenging assumptions
In large measure Gooley attributes his success in business to the critical thinking skills he acquired while a political science major at Trinity. "Above all else, Trinity taught me how to think and to challenge assumptions," he claims. "There are very few things that are presented to me in the business environment that I just accept at face value. I always try to look underneath to see what's really going on."
A Chicago native who attended Trinity under its Illinois Scholars program -- which this year celebrates its 50th anniversary -- Gooley says a course he took in international law with Professor of Political Science (Emeritus) Albert L. Gastmann tipped the scales in favor of law school. "Professor Gastmann was my favorite political science teacher. He just made it so interesting. His style was conversational. He didn't lecture. He talked with us about things. It made me want to do the work and want to go to class," he recalls.
Using the right word at the right time
Trinity helped Gooley in other ways. "The biggest single thing that has helped me is the ability to communicate in writing," he maintains. "In a liberal arts environment, you do lots of writing. You have to learn to write in a way that gets your point across effectively, and you have to learn to be the advocate at times." Gooley found a course he took in creative writing during his senior year to be particularly beneficial. "It involved using the right word, and only the right word, at the right time. That's law. That's business."
While at Trinity, Gooley became involved in student government and served as the director of the "Od Squad" (a variation on the popular television series, "Mod Squad"), a big-brother and big-sister organization that also tutored young people in the Rice Heights/Charter Oak Terrace neighborhoods. He received the College's Samuel S. Fishzohn Award for community service for his work in 1975. Following graduation, he earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Connecticut School of Law in 1978 and briefly worked as an assistant corporation counsel for the city of Hartford as an adviser to the police department before accepting a position as assistant attorney general with the state's attorney's office in 1979.
What does the future hold for the number-two person at Yankee Energy? His immediate goal, he says, "is to make Yankee Gas the best gas distribution company in the country. In order to do that we have to significantly lower our prices over time. Even though I believe we're a good customer-response company, we've got to be better at it."
-- Suzanne Zack