"It was nail-biting time," Ed Mitchell recalls.

Mitchell directed that two oil-fired units at PEPCO's Chalk Point Generating Station be modified to burn natural gas, then built on that flexibility during the 1990s. Four new combustion turbines were added to the PEPCO arsenal – all designed to burn both oil and gas. Mitchell's initiative enabled PEPCO to take advantage of shifting fuel costs and save money for consumers.

Mitchell also led PEPCO's effort to extend the lives of aging generating units at a fraction of the cost of building new ones.

Mitchell came to Washington and to PEPCO in 1956 out of the University of Virginia. He started in the civil- and substation-engineering division. He moved up in the company and in 1980 was named executive vice president, chief operating officer and a member of the board of directors. He became president in 1983, CEO in 1989 and chairman of the board in 1992.

The secret of Mitchell's success? "Make yourself as indispensable to others as you can, and they will respond in kind," he says.

Ed Mitchell led his industry as well as his company. He served at president of the Association of Edison Illuminating Companies and the Southeastern Electric Exchange and as chairman of the Edison Electric Institute. During his tenure, PEPCO was named Electric Utility of the Year.

Mitchell also led the community with a strong commitment to volunteer service. He helped form Corporations Against Drug Abuse and served as cochair of the Maryland Business Roundtable on Education. He encouraged PEPCO people to serve in the community.

"We had people doing all kinds of things – thousands of hours of labor went into volunteer work every year," he says. "We really are joined by more than just power lines."