AVANGRID’s new Purpose and Values recently debuted, and the “We Are AVANGRID” campaign spotlights employees who strive to make the purpose and values part of their work life.

The Purpose: Working together to deliver a more accessible clean energy model that promotes healthier, more sustainable communities every day. The Values: Sustainable. Agile. Collaborative.

Let’s meet James Respeto, Lead Overhead/ Underground Supervisor at UI. He’s based in Orange, Conn.

Q: How long have you been on the job?

A: My first day on the job as a meter reader was August 8, 1988.

Q: What do you love about your job?

A: What I love most about my job is that I have the ability to mentor our new line apprentices in safe work practices and proper techniques. The most fulfilling aspect is at the end of their five year apprenticeship and witnessing all the knowledge and skill they have acquired in order to achieve the status of a journeyman line worker.

Q: How would you sum up what you do?

A: I lead a team of five supervisors and 109 journeyman line workers in the construction and maintenance of our overhead and underground distribution system for our 325,000+ residential, commercial and industrial customers.

Q: What do you see as the biggest opportunity in your role?

A: As a senior line worker with 28 years of field experience, I feel as if the biggest opportunity and contribution I can make in my role is in the mentorship and education of our line workers. I try to instill the importance of work safety, strong work ethic and camaraderie amongst each other and colleagues.

Q: How do you live our values in your everyday work?

A: We, as line workers, live our values each and every day. Starting from day one of training where we emphasize proper technique, skill and safety so that projects can be completed on schedule. To achieve this, we work in collaboration not only with fellow line workers, but with supervisors, ECC, engineers, logistics, state and local town officials as well as our consumers/ customers.