A.G. Gancarski
Jacksonville’s publicly owned utility is going into soon-to-be-Hurricane Helene having resolved its latest leadership issue.
Vickie Cavey, who was chosen earlier this year as JEA’s Interim CEO and managing director, is interim no more after a board meeting.
“Vickie has shown incredible leadership. She has gotten in and made significant changes that most interim (leaders) would not have touched,” asserted board member John Baker.
Former CEO Jay Stowe stepped down from leadership in April, when Cavey was given the interim spot immediately.
Stowe opened his remarks by stressing that his departure doesn’t mean that “JEA is for sale,” before thanking employees and acknowledging the labor union’s “courtesy and respect.” He described the “honor” of serving as JEA’s leader in recent years and accomplishments, such as the “lowest combined utility rates” in a Florida metropolitan area and rebuilding “trust” and reviving corporate values “in a place that had been hurt and broken for too long.”
Stowe stabilized the public perception of the power and water company after Aaron Zahn’s tenure. Zahn’s attempts to privatize the utility, which would have brought him and other chief executives a massive windfall, ended in ignominy and led to an eventual conviction on federal charges.
In a media release Tuesday, the utility stressed Cavey’s decadeslong involvement, noting she returned in 2016 as special assistant external affairs to interim CEO Paul McElroy in May 2020, as he dealt with the Zahn aftermath.
She also was Stowe’s board liaison for a couple of months at the end of 2020 and early in 2021, before she returned to JEA in March 2024, weeks before Stowe’s departure, in a temporary role as liaison to the board.
