Episode 36: Recruiting for the Nuclear Renaissance with Derrick Collins, TVA

Advanced energy 🤝 economic development.

Today, we’re joined by Derrick Collins, Regional Economic Development Consultant for the Tennessee Valley Authority.

On this episode of Energizing Tennessee, we talk about:

• Major nuclear energy-related projects Derrick has taken the lead on, including with companies like Orano, TRISO-X, BWXT, Oklo, Radiant, and LIS Technologies
• Derrick’s insight into company recruitment strategies and job-creation initiatives
• How the TVA Workforce Invest Grant is preparing the next generation for the workforce, and providing additional economic development resources

Enjoy the episode!

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:03

Welcome to Energizing Tennessee, powered by the Tennessee Advanced Energy Business Council. We're your number one podcast for news about Tennessee's advanced energy sector. I'm your host, Courtney Piper. Today we're joined by Derek Collins, Regional Economic Development Consultant for the Tennessee Valley Authority. During his time with TVA, Derek has taken the lead on many major nuclear energy-related partnerships and investments, including with companies like Arano, TrisOX, BWXT, Oaklo, Radiant, and Liszt Technologies. Derek's insight on company recruitment strategies and job creation initiatives helps paint the full picture of how Tennessee is successfully leading the nuclear energy renaissance. Enjoy the show. If you like what you hear, subscribe to our podcast and don't forget to leave a rating or review. It helps us reach a wider audience to champion Tennessee's advanced energy sector. Energizing Tennessee would not be possible without the support of our TAEBC members. Welcome to the show, Derek.

SPEAKER_00 1:14

Thank you, Courtney. It's uh it's a pleasure to be with you. Happy to be on to talk a little bit of economic development today.

SPEAKER_01 1:20

My favorite topic. We we can nerd out together on this.

SPEAKER_00 1:23

All right, good.

SPEAKER_01 1:24

Before we dive in, let's talk a little bit more about you and your experience before TBA. You're a regional economic development consultant for TVA, and prior to that, you were responsible for a lot of economic development in Jeff County. So tell us a little bit more about your background and and what got you interested in economic development.

SPEAKER_00 1:43

Sure. Thanks, Courtney. Um, well, I mean, it's a bit of a story, um, to be honest. I've I've cut my teeth in the private sector uh straight out of college in project management and sales, um, really with uh no vision to ever go into economic development. To be honest with you, I didn't even know how to spell it, most likely, uh, at that point in time. So um I was um working, I joined the chat the Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce in 2016, uh working in membership services. Um, and uh at the time my my neighbor, uh next door neighbor, uh, the city mayor of Jefferson City uh was Mark Potts. Uh he's now county mayor in Jefferson County. Uh so I got a call from him one afternoon, uh about 5:30, and he said, Hey, we've got a spot open for uh looking for an economic developer in Jefferson County, and is that something you would be interested in? And and I said, Well, I'd if you can tell me what that is, uh I'll be happy to uh to tell you whether I'm interested or not. And so we had a good long conversation about kind of what the county was was looking to do um and and where they they wanted to go and felt pretty comfortable with it. I'm always open to try new things and and and look at new opportunities. And so um when I really dug into it uh it and started thinking about what is economic development, it's really a combination of project management and sales uh at the end of the day. So I felt like I had a pretty good background in it. I just needed to learn the ropes a little bit. And so I started uh as the economic development director in Jefferson County with the Alliance of Jefferson County, and then ultimately ended up back at the Chamber of Commerce in Jeff County. Uh started that in 2017, I believe. I think that's right. Um, and then spent about five years, four a little over four years, uh doing economic development in the county.

SPEAKER_01 3:40

And you were president of the Jefferson County Chamber, is that correct?

SPEAKER_00 3:44

Correct, for a short period of time, about eight months. Um, and I was interim for a few months and then took the job in uh July of uh of 2019, I believe. Uh my dates are a little fuzzy here, but um I think it was 2019 and then uh I'm sorry, that was 2020. Um, and um right around the time, about a month before COVID hit, uh, is when I started as the interim. Um in uh in July of 20, I started as the uh as the president um uh of the Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce and then uh worked in that role for about eight months until um June of what was about April when uh really started kind of considering and thinking about a move to TVA at that point and then started with TVA in June of 21.

SPEAKER_01 4:31

Well, how did your and we'll talk more about TVA in a moment here, but I'm always curious how people's past experiences inform their present day work. So how did your roles with the Jefferson County Chamber prepare you for this role with TVA?

SPEAKER_00 4:47

Well, I'll I'll I'll actually go a lot further back than that, Courtney. So I I I grew up what I what I tell people a lot of times, I was a local power company baby. Um my mom worked for Morestown Utilities for 28 years. Um and so I grew up in that environment. Um, and and it was a different time back then. You could take your kids to work and just let them run around. And in the summertime, I would spend sometimes hours over there um just kind of running around the hall, sitting in the conference room. And um, and as I grew up, um, I was TVA is always when you when you when you're around the local power company, TVA is always a part of that discussion. Um, and so I would hear about TVA um from that side of things. Um and really, um, oddly enough, when I was at Carson Newman, um, I did a uh a senior project on TVA's Energy Right program uh way back when. So uh I feel like I kind of always have been moving in this direction um a little bit. Um but you know, from uh an economic development perspective, for me, um I was blessed. Um so my my current partner, Tim Tidwell, who handles the upper northeast portion of the Northeast Valley that I cover, um, was my TVA rep when I was in Jefferson County. And so um Tim has been, I can't even begin to tell you how important Tim has been to me in my time prior to being at TVA with uh with the with the chamber um and just learning the process uh and and how economic development. Um just a quick backstory. When I started at the Alliance, um, I asked several people, um, you know, who do I need to reach out to to really try to learn how this process works, how to do economic development. And I asked three different people, and three different people gave me the same answer. And it was Tim Tidwell. So I reached out to Tim. Um we had lunch, I think my second week of being there. We've been friends ever since. I think he would call me a friend at this point. Um, but uh we've been friends ever since, and and I really honestly just that's how I learned to do it. I feel like that I learned to do economic development, kind of doing it the TVA way, uh, before I was ever a part of TVA economic development. So um, yeah, so that's that's the the background a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 7:18

You've been well, well prepared, well-versed for this role, Derek. Now, with TVA, you know, everybody sees TVA as the nation's largest public power provider. We know that TVA gives us power. We we see TVA as utility. But TVA actually has this three-pronged mission of providing power, environmental stewardship, and economic development. So talk a little bit more about that part of TVA's mission. What is TVA's role with economic development?

SPEAKER_00 7:47

Yeah, so I mean, thanks, Courtney, for pointing that out because uh a lot of of what we call the three E's, um energy, environmental stewardship, and economic development, the economic development side is the one that that most folks uh don't generally see every day. They know that we're producing power, they know that we're managing river systems and reservoirs and um and shorelines. They they know all that and see all of that, but but we're we also have this group of people, about 50, 55 of us, that really focus every single day on trying to help our communities prepare for uh economic growth, for economic development opportunities. Um, you know, we work really closely with our state uh regional partners, our local economic development partners, our local power companies, our power distributors. Um, you know, for us, the hero of our story at an economic development level is a lot of times our local power companies because they're the ones that are delivering the power and distributing the power to the end user. So we wouldn't be able to do what we do every single day without the support of our local power companies or our power distributors. But really, our role, um, and I I think about it really, Courtney, from a perspective of the the best way I can answer that is we're here to support. Um, you know, we're here to support all of those different entities. Um when when you talk about um economic development as a whole, um there's there's this old adage that economic development's a team sport, right? It takes a lot of uh rising tides, float all boats, right? So it takes a lot of of preparation, um, a lot of planning uh strategically for these opportunities to come into our our region. Um we're not really we're not we're not doing it in a vacuum. We're we're thinking about and preparing for the next opportunity and the the next company that that can come in and and be a support and bring jobs and capital investment into our region. Um and that's kind of where we come in. We we really work with those partners to prepare communities for that growth to not only create new jobs, but also to retain the ones that we already have. Um and so for us, and I've said it for years, that true economic development really is done at the existing industry level. So, you know, this the splash comes with the new company announcements, but there's a lot of work to be done with existing industry to help retain those positions that are here within our communities that we serve. Um, so we support that through um various relationships with those partners, uh creation of programs. Um, you know, we we we we've got programs for uh product development, as we call it, just to help communities prepare um their sites as as they're uh looking to to opportunities for growth and workforce is is an area that we've we've jumped into in the last several years. Um but really it's it's day in and day out with those partners to share that really to to to share in that commitment to be a catalyst for economic growth in our region.

SPEAKER_01 11:23

That coordination role and and uh TVA's role as a team player is so important because all of our communities are different, they have different characteristics, they have different needs. Same things with all of our local power companies. And I'm curious, what sorts of challenges have you seen across the board when communities are preparing for any kind of economic development, whether it's big or or regular size? Are there is it is is there a common suite of challenges that you see communities facing? And have you seen any one way, any one magic bullet that they have managed those challenges?

SPEAKER_00 12:02

Yeah, I don't I don't know that there's one single challenge. Um I think you said it. Um each of our communities are different. Um in and and I can speak really only to my region. I I live here. I grew up in Morristown, um, as I mentioned before. Um I still live in Morristown. Um, and so you know, I'm working in in this region each and every day. Um so I live here, I shop here, um, I go to church here, uh, my kids go to school here. Um, and and it's important, I think, for us, you know, one of the things that we the role that I sit in uh in in this portion of the Northeast Valley, Tim and I cover it together. I've got 12 counties, he has 16 more up in the the upper northeast, but there's there's 13 others of us across our seven state region that's all doing the same thing. We're all supporting our individual regions, and they're all different. And not only are all the regions different, all of the communities are different. In my case, um, you know, my primary metro areas are in Knox and Blunt County. Um, but I have several rural communities that um maybe there's only, you know, one person that's running like like me at the chamber when I was there. I was fortunate to have good support, but I was a one-man shop uh doing economic development. And I have I have several of those in my region. And so really it's it's identifying what those challenges are in each of those communities. For some, it may be um it may be what we call product or you know, having uh sites and buildings available to be ready for those opportunities as they come along. Um, in some communities, it could be infrastructure, um, it could be um just project management at the end of the day, helping to to work through and think through when we get a prospect, how do we prepare to present to those? Because, you know, we maybe um, you know, in Jeff County, we didn't get that opportunity every day. So even though I was working in economic development, I didn't get site visits every day. So I wasn't as used to um being in front of a uh a prospect. And so um, you know, I had Tim to lean on um and to help me prepare for that. And so I've tried to take that role that Tim provided to me uh years ago and and share that with my communities. How can I best help support and how can I best help serve you in whatever capacity that would be? But I would say from an overarching perspective, really the key challenges for us in our region is availability of land and buildings, um, having opportunity to to go out and recruit and find places for these companies to go. Um, and then also um we mentioned it earlier, workforce um is a key challenge. I think that shifts over time. If you had asked five years ago, what's the main challenge? It's probably site at that point. Um, and now with some of these larger load projects that we're working, some of it may be infrastructure and some of it could be workforce. So I think it's kind of a three-headed monster, if you want to call it that, between uh availability of land, um uh infrastructure, and then also workforce.

SPEAKER_01 15:26

Well, let's let's talk about some of those larger load projects because TBA has been part many part of many projects that we're seeing in the nuclear energy space. And the counties that are attracting most of that are are in your territory. Um so talk more about your department's role with the nuclear renaissance that we're seeing here in Oak Ridge and and let's call it the Oak Ridge Corridor in East Tennessee.

SPEAKER_00 15:50

Yeah, well, it's so really, I mean, it all kind of I mean, what if you look at this region, um nuclear is no you know, it we have a long history of that in in Oak Ridge and in the surrounding communities and and and particularly Roan and Anderson uh of are two communities that I serve, including Oak Ridge as well. But you know, there's a a long history of of that. I mean, really, you know, every time I drive from uh from Interstate 40 up past Melton Hill and um you know I'm I'm kind of coming into the backside, you you you realize why they called it the secret city, right? To think, you know, they just kind of placed this and and at that time was what you know was was really in a very remote and rural area. Um but we I feel like that particularly Oak Ridge and Ronan Anderson, they sort of grew up with with nuclear. Uh they grew into nuclear. Um and and I think uh you know, at this point it you in order for these projects to work, you have to be in an environment where people understand it. Um and people accept it. Um, you know, if you can go to certain areas of the valley that maybe nuclear doesn't really work in those areas of the valley, but they do here um in in this this part of of the commun of the world. Really, I mean, for us, it was Arano, the Arano project um was was a big one um and and really was that catalyst to to really begin to bring back um sort of oak ridge as that that next place that that next place again, if you want to say it that, because we moved away from that a little bit. We've always had the lab there, we've always had Y12, we've always been involved in nuclear. Um, but when you talk about the renaissance of that and the coming back of nuclear, where was that gonna go? Um and for us, it just made sense. It had, you know, it just made sense for it to be Oak Ridge because it's so understood, it's so accepted. And also you've got the workforce there of people who kind of grew up in that environment to understand it and know it. Um, and then the support of the lab. I mean, you you can't um, you know, with and also DOE uh with with their ties to Oak Ridge already, but but with Oak Ridge National Lab, I mean, to have that in our back door was uh is I think critical to to the the future of what that looks like.

SPEAKER_01 18:26

It it's so true. And I found that especially in our part of East Tennessee, the nuclear energy industry and the nuclear renaissance is such a point of pride for all of our communities. We're proud of its history, we are proud of its presence, and we are excited about its future. And having that level of pride is also, I think, has been really helpful in attracting what I think we're at more than 12 billion dollars now that we've attracted to this region. And TVA is such a critical partner with that too, because they also have a utility partner that that um understands and has that point of pride too. And I, you know, I think that's what makes our part of Tennessee a special place.

SPEAKER_00 19:09

Yeah, and I think, you know, I I will give a shout out where it's due, but to to our folks in the city of Oak Ridge and with the City of Oak Ridge electric department, also, I mean, we can't serve these customers without their support and their help uh to be able to come alongside of us and be able to do that. And you know, that it's been uh it's been fun. Um I'll say it's been fun to sit back and and and watch this sort of all evolve into what it is. I mean, there you mentioned it, the the the investment that's been made into Oak Ridge and and Ron and Anderson County and this well really is a short period of time. I mean, it doesn't seem like it means it to me it's almost like it was yesterday, but um, but I mean it's really it's been it's been about a three-year period where our shift from you know what we were looking at historically in in our region to now kind of being more not only um you know the the the advancement of you know the the the fuels you got the fuel side of it so you're not only looking at the enrichment of it, we've been you know doing that for years um with companies like you know Centrus being in in Oak Ridge as as well. So I mean it's it that's been happening, but then you look at the fuel development, but then for us it's kind of we're beginning to think what is that pipeline or what does that supply chain look like to be able to support? And I think that's where some of our surrounding counties can come in and be a help and support to that as well. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 20:42

And uh Derek, does TVA have a process for evaluating markets or industry sectors it prioritizes for economic development?

SPEAKER_00 20:50

Yeah, so we um so I I'm a region, I work regionally um within my region, but we have a group of a target market group or a global business as we call it uh that's kind of housed with within our department, but we have target market specialists that their job is to go out and and really prepare um and and and begin to work with companies. And I I I tend to not use the word recruit necessarily, um, but um to to uh to network with companies that that are are looking to expand or to uh to potentially relocate or start up operations. And so that's really where a target market group comes in, and and we've got you know five folks that on our staff that that is their job. And so every three to five years, um, we evaluate what our target markets are, and we do that in a lot of different ways. We work with our state partners and our local uh economic developers and kind of evaluating what they're looking at as well, uh, and also just kind of. Understanding the market's going. A lot of times some of that can shift depending upon the administr the current administration, whether that's at the state level or the federal level. So there's it's a it's a bit of a revolving door sometimes of targets. There are some that we're always going to do. We've had great luck in the state of Tennessee, particularly and in the the TVA region with uh automotive, with you know OEMs on the automotive side, but more so on the the tiered supply chain. Um uh and and that's been really successful. So automotive is always going to be a target for us. Um aerospace and defense uh is always going to be a target. Um you've got a lot of really cool things going on in Blunt County and surrounding counties. We're in the aerospace and defense side of things. Um energy systems, obviously, we're an energy company, so we're going to be looking at one of our targets is generally going to be energy systems. Um and then we also do uh other transportation-related targets, um, you know, life sciences, food and beverage. Um, so these guys really, that's their day-to-day, is to go out and to network and communicate with these companies and these particular targets to try to evaluate if the TVA region and the state of Tennessee is really a good fit for them.

SPEAKER_01 23:26

Now, earlier this year, Liszt Technologies committed to investing $1.4 billion in Oak Ridge to develop a laser enrichment facility that's creating over 200 jobs. What was it like for your team to be part of that project?

SPEAKER_00 23:43

Yeah, so I mean, the the Lisp project was it was a it was a fun one. I mean, you've all you've got the connection, you know, but Daniel at Liszt being kind of a hometown guy. I mean, that's that's that was pretty fun to watch that kind of come out of the ground and sort of be spun from from here locally. Um, so that that one was uh that one was a fun one to work. Um, you know, with with us, I would say my interaction with Liszt is really just starting, um, working regionally. Uh Meryl Harris on our team, she's the target market specialist for energy systems. Meryl worked really closely with with Liszt early on for and had been for several years, just trying to evaluate, um, really trying to find the right spot uh for them. Um, you know, what where does it make the most sense for them to be? Um, and then, you know, really with what is now Liszt Island um and formerly Ducked Island um was a uh what when when when that opportunity came along, it really was really the catalyst to be able to make that project happen. And so it was really fun to just kind of sit back and I've been involved at at a periphery level uh for a good while on that project. Um, but really for me, the the clock really starts for me once once the I'm involved in the beginning of the the project um and and pretty heavily in some it depends on the project. Um, but for me, most of the time when that announcement happens, then it kind of kicks over to me from in this case from Meryl. She sort of hands things off to me. And my job is to really work on you know making that project successful and really beginning to see that come out of the ground.

SPEAKER_01 25:26

Well, all of our eyes are on that project. That's one of the more exciting ones. They're all exciting, but that one is just really, really interesting uh to have in our region. So, Derek, you've mentioned this with economic development, there always comes workforce development. There's always this intersection of the two. So what um I know that TVA has been thinking about this too, and you all created a workforce invest program. So tell our listeners a little bit more about workforce invest.

SPEAKER_00 25:57

Yeah, so um workforce invest really was a um we launched it in 2022. Um, and and and workforce was really for us was not a space that we traditionally played in uh from an economic development perspective for particularly TVA economic development. Um, and then, you know, with everything now a lot of times is pre-COVID and after COVID, right? So um, so after COVID, we really began to see that um that workforce was beginning to be one of those topics that um was discussed more and more and more. And we wanted to try to make sure that we were helping our communities on our side as well from a workforce pipeline perspective. And so in 22, we launched uh a program called Workforce Invest. Um, and and really the it was really designed uh primarily to really enhance that that intersection, if you want to call it, between economic development and workforce development. Um and and the program kind of recognizes um really strong talent pipelines. There, those are essential to really being able to attract new companies, new businesses. Not only that, supporting existing industries uh with talent as well. Um, and then really just trying to ensure that our communities are positioned for more long-term success. Um, and so um what Workforce Invest really is, is it it's an application-based grant matching program designed to strengthen um that workforce pipeline across the Tennessee Valley. Um it we and through that, we partner with local economic development organizations uh to support their initiatives. So we're not coming up with the programming, we're not coming up with and deciding for a community. The communities are just are working to establish what works for them and their particular communities, and then how we can help them build that skilled and competitive talent pipeline. So we invest in a number of areas local education, career training, skills development that really match and meet those communities' um um talent pipelines, whatever they're trying to build. Um so yeah, it's it's a pretty cool program. It's relatively new. I think it's year four of the program, but it's been fun to kind of watch that and see some of the programming that's come out of that.

SPEAKER_01 28:29

That's great. I can tell that's very needed and probably came out of the great coordination that you all do and being a team player with economic development. So we will be sure to put more information about workforce invest in our show notes so that our listeners are interested, they know how to get more information.

SPEAKER_00 28:47

Yeah. So just, you know, with Workforce Invest, it it really is, I would say, um, you know, work through the local economic developers. Um, and and and that's really where they can begin to flesh out some ideas on on what programs make sense for each individual community. Um, and then, you know, we're excited to to to work with the communities and see what we can do from a programmatic perspective.

SPEAKER_01 29:14

Derek Collins, Regional Economic Development Consultant for the Tennessee Valley Authority. Thanks for coming on the show.

SPEAKER_00 29:20

Thank you, Courtney. Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_01 29:25

And that's our show. Thanks for tuning in to Energizing Tennessee, powered by the Tennessee Advanced Energy Business Council, your number one podcast for news about Tennessee's advanced energy sector. If you like what you heard, please share it with others or leave a rating and review. To catch the latest episodes, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Don't forget to follow TAEBC on social media or sign up for our newsletter to hear about our events and learn even more about Tennessee's growing advanced energy economy. Thank you for listening to Energizing Tennessee.