A Man Made Out of Energy
Mauricio Gutierrez is President and CEO of NRG. Gutierrez joined NRG in 2004 and helped build the company from a regional wholesale generation business to a national, Fortune 500, diversified energy company. Mauricio has led NRG's engineering and construction activities related to new generation and repowering projects.
Energy has always been part of Mauricio’s life. Whether it was the energy he needed to complete a swimming competition or electricity in all its forms. Mauricio Gutierrez recognizes and celebrates the lengths that one can take when surrounding oneself with energy.
“My house was always filled with an entrepreneurial spirit.”, Mauricio says. He was born to entrepreneurial parents in Mexico. Since he can recall, his passion has always lead to engineering and its market. After realizing that oil and gas were not his number one interest, he decided to focus his career on electricity and what it represents. “Electricity is a better life. Whether it’s powerful hospitals or our connectedness. Electricity is progress.”, he expresses with passion.
Mauricio grew up being a competitive swimmer, a sport that shaped his personality and discipline since he was young. As he began his career in Mexico and got involved with the Federal regulatory committee he continued to fall for the aspiration of competition and what competition could bring to different industries.
As he spent his early years trading energy, Mauricio took the opportunity to come to the U.S. and join Dynegy as a trader. About four years passed and Mauricio quickly moved to become a managing director. It was in 2004 when Mauricio realized that he had take a step back and and think about what was best for him in the future. Mauricio then took his next adventure at NRG.
Mauricio has constantly put himself out there in positions that give him the opportunity to move up the corporate ladder. He mostly recognizes his rotational experiences and the power of mentorships. “I had great mentors that opened doors for me,” Mauricio says. From Portfolio Director to Vice President in Trading and on to CEO, Mauricio rose to the top. Coming up with this decision was not easy for him. It took some thinking to do in order to decided whether he saw himself as a trader or a manager. “It was tempting for me to go to Wall Street and be a trader but I realized that what I really wanted was to lead in a managing position.”
He took the sacrifice to stop earning as a trader and be compensated as an executive. “It was a tradeoff,” he says. “I was a young executive.” At the time it didn’t always felt like a smart move for him, especially with the collapse of the market but it’s something that he most definitely doesn’t regret at all. Mauricio got to lead from a different standpoint and lead the moving ball of the industry.
His first experiences at NRG started with sales and marketing. He began to excel in these early positions all due to the recognition of his role and how important it was for him to give his one-hundred and twenty percent of energy. “I really had the fortune to be at the right place at the right time,” Mauricio expreses when talking about his role as the youngest Hispanic CEO. “There are very few Hispanics that get this opportunity and I don’t take it for granted.”
“Electricity is a better life. Whether it’s powerful hospitals or our connectedness. Electricity is progress.”
Envisioning For The Better
One of Mauricio’s strongest believes is the power and choice consumers have to make today when making decisions of how and when to use electricity. He envisions a customer experience never seen before, where consumers have a transparent relationship with energy.
“Our main purpose is to bring power of energy to the people and organizations. This means homes, hospitals, businesses.”
Not only does Mauricio carry his responsibilities and visions as CEO but as a board member he under- stands how this role rises to another different level. He describes this duality of roles in two different ways: 1) to understand what the board needs to effectively carry all of its oversight responsibilities and 2) to provide clear and concise direction on strategy and initiatives. The dual role of being a colleague amongst his board members and the interpreter of the day to day operations is one Mauricio takes seriously.
As we continue to live through the effects of Covid, Mauricio highlights the importance of how things need to be done different in general. “We have to increase communication significantly. One thing that I’ve done is to increase the frequency and detail of dialogues within my board.” In today’s case, Mauricio recognizes how CEO’s and their relationships with the boards need to grow from both sides. Most especially, through his experience as taking both roles, he recognizes that a more frequent communication strategy could leave out all the anxiety and uncertainty that’s been. Seen recently.
When it comes to building boards he recognizes how crucial it is to have a diverse mix of individuals. “The idea of a board for me is one where skills of the board members are complementary to achieving success for the companies. When I mean diverse I don’t mean just age and gender or culture but it’s also about skillsets, backgrounds, experiences.” Mauricio finds the errors of boards being built by a limited pool of people. In order to reach deep in to an organization and truly create change, a board needs to find those skillsets that are more complimentary and consistent with what the purpose of the corporation is. “As CEO and board member I carry a commitment to better align with values and purpose and it’s all dine through the hiring of people throughout all levels of the organization.”