Meet SELCO's General Manager

Name: Michael Hale

Live in town: Resides in Shrewsbury with his wife.

Business/Job Title: Shrewsbury Electric and Cable Operations General Manager

Are you a morning person or a night owl?  I get up at 6 a.m. so I’m clearly a morning person.

Favorite song on your iPod: One Tree Hill, U2

Facebook or Twitter: Neither

Favorite Author: J.D. Salinger, Catcher In The Rye

Last book read: The World Is Flat by Tom Friedman

Michael Hale grew up in Holden in a very community-involved family of six. His father was involved in local government for 20 years, so local issues were always being discussed at the dinner table. From that, his interest in politics grew and while at college, he studied economics and political science.

Before coming to SELCO, Michael Hale spent more than 20 years in the town manager’s office. He started as an administrative assistant to Richard Carney, then the dean of town managers in Massachusetts, and rose to assistant town manager.

While training in Shrewsbury, Hale took night classes at Boston University and earned an MBA. The position at SELCO became vacant after Tom Josie announced his retirement at the beginning of this year. Hale was intrigued and decided to apply for the job.

“This position combines both of my interests in local government and my training from business school in that SELCO’s operations under the government umbrella are far more business-focused and the operations are run as if it were a business, albeit a nonprofit business,” said Hale.

There are several business units under the umbrella of SELCO: electricity, cable TV, broadband/Internet services and telephone. 

“I have spent the last five years in the town manager’s office working on various public works projects which involved water and sewer utilities, and so I did get some valuable training working under Dan Morgado and managing and working with those department heads. So, working under him...I was able to take that experience and transfer it here,” Hale said.

Hale's job requires him to keep an eye on the various industries and make sure that SELCO is prepared to remain competitive. He reads the local papers as well as the Wall Street Journal. He checks the natural gas prices, which are a primary indicator for power costs. He regularly meets with six to eight different department managers and gives advice and direction on projects.

“The internet and cable side is rapidly changing while the electrical end is fairly stable. My role is to make sure the town has the guardian of the asset and they have the best information through me to enable them to compete and retain value on their investment,” said Hale.

Hale credits his predecessor, Tom Josie, with leaving the business units in very strong financial shape.

“We just launched a major initiative on the cable side in which we will be sending to the homeowners, a device known as a DTA. This will allow us to make improvements so that we can offer more high definition programming,” he said.

Hale has been in his new position for little more than three months.

“There is something to be said about the culture of the town where people come, they perform and they stay," he said. "The previous town manager was here for 40 years. The current town manager has been here for for 14 years."

For more information about SELCO, email Hale at mhale@ci.shrewsbury.ma.us.