AMARILLO, Texas (May 3, 2022) – Justin Smiley, who has served as a senior manager in Xcel Energy’s Substation Operations and Maintenance group for Texas and New Mexico since 2015, has taken the position of director of Business Customer Relations as of May 2 upon the retirement of Bryan Kauffman.
Smiley is overseeing a group of account representatives who serve as primary liaisons between the company and its large industrial customers in Texas and New Mexico.
“I am confident Justin can build on the great efforts of Bryan Kauffman, whose leadership and relationship building have been key factors in sustaining the phenomenal growth of our large customer segment,” said David Hudson, president, Xcel Energy – New Mexico, Texas.
Smiley is a native of Amarillo and attended Amarillo College before earning a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from Texas Tech University in 2003. He holds a professional engineering license with the state of Texas. He joined Xcel Energy in 2001 as an engineering intern in Amarillo and worked within the Distribution organization until 2010 before joining Transmission as a substation field engineer.
Since 2015, Smiley has been the senior operations manager for the Great Plains Substation O&M department and the Protective Material Test Lab serving Xcel Energy’s Texas-New Mexico region. He has led a 58-person team performing operations, maintenance and construction for just over 500 substations in the service territory along with testing over 35,000 pieces of personal protective equipment for Texas, New Mexico and Colorado.
Smiley succeeds Bryan Kauffman, who retired May 2 after 38-years of service to Xcel Energy and its predecessor company, Southwestern Public Service Company.
Kauffman started with Southwestern Public Service Company in 1984 as a distribution engineer. In 1989 he became a supervising engineer in Pampa, Texas, and was named a local manager for Dumas, Texas, and Sunray, Texas, in 1994. Kauffman moved back to Amarillo in 1997 to take a position as key account executive in Business Customer Relations. Between 2004 and 2008 he was a case specialist in Rates and Regulatory Affairs. In 2008 he took the position of senior consultant for the Transmission Policy and Compliance group in Xcel Energy’s Transmission organization.
Kauffman is a native of Hutchinson, Kan., and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from Kansas State University. He is a registered professional engineer in the state of Texas. He has worked with United Way organizations in Pampa and Dumas, was active with Big Brothers/Big Sisters in Pampa and served as president of the Dumas and Moore County Chamber of Commerce. He continued his community work upon returning to Amarillo with service on various committees with the Amarillo Chamber of Commerce and has served on the board of the Don Harrington Discovery Center since 2017.
# # #
About Xcel Energy
Xcel Energy (NASDAQ: XEL) provides the energy that powers millions of homes and businesses across eight Western and Midwestern states. Headquartered in Minneapolis, the company is an industry leader in responsibly reducing carbon emissions and producing and delivering clean energy solutions from a variety of renewable sources at competitive prices. For more information, visit xcelenergy.com or follow us on Twitter and Facebook.