One of my goals as ETS General Counsel is to assure that the group is organized in a way that allows all of us to provide quality services to our clients in the most efficient manner possible.  One of the ways to do this is to modify our internal organization to better track the "functionalized" organization that ETS has recently adopted in the operations and commercial areas.  Additionally, we must continually revisit the way we allocate our resources to reflect client priorities.  Accordingly, I am pleased to announce that Colleen Raker will begin reporting directly to me, effective immediately.  Richard Melton, Lee Huber and Kim Wilkie will report to Colleen.  Colleen's team will have primary responsibility for serving the "new business generation" efforts within Steve Hotte's IT group and Phil Lowry's Operations group.  Additionally, Colleen's team will focus on asset purchase and sale transactions and financings, while Colleen and Richard will take lead responsibility on pipeline security efforts led by Mike Nelson's team.  Each of these lawyers will also continue serving the numerous other clients they assisted before this organizational change.

Lou Soldano's group will continue its emphasis on serving the needs of the rest of Phil Lowry's organization, including the key area of right of way acquisition and other legal requirements related to pipeline expansions.  Greg Porter's group will continue its focus on   commercial and regulatory activity on the NNG and TW systems.  Greg's group gets reinforcements on Monday, as Bill Rapp is joining us from EES.  Bill will focus on TW matters, and will coordinate closely with Tony Pryor, Maria Pavlou, and Greg and Dot as he gets up to speed on the busy TW docket.  Dot McCoppin's group will continue its role supporting all commercial and regulatory activity for Citrus/FGT.  Dot's group will also assist with TW matters as appropriate.

Given the dynamic business we are a part of and the small size of our group, the organizational structure outlined above is intended to be very flexible.  Each of us will continue to be called on by clients to assist with projects that don't fit neatly into the above structure.  That is part of the challenge we face, but also part of the fun we enjoy!  

Please join me in congratulating Colleen on her new responsibilities and in welcoming Bill to the group on Monday!