Todd:
Welcome back to the podcast. We are honored to have Stacy Derstine here with us today. She is the Vice President of External Affairs for APS. That's her day job. She's also the chair of the Greater Phoenix Chamber Foundation, and we're just thrilled to have her here with us today.
Stacy Derstine:
Well, thank you for having me. I'm excited to be here.
Todd:
Thanks for taking the time. Maybe tell us a little bit about yourself and then something that we wouldn't find on your resume that we might find interesting.
Stacy Derstine:
Oh, okay. Well, so I guess the most important things first, married to an amazing man, Matt Derstine. He's a partner at Snellen Wilmer, and we have four pretty terrific kids, 18 to 33 now. That's a big range. Yes, big range. And one just graduated from high school, so we have one more going to college-
Todd:
Congrats.
Stacy Derstine:
And then we are officially empty nesters, so we're really excited for her and for us. She says, "What are you going to do when we're gone?" We're like, "Let's see, where do we start?" No kidding. We'll miss her. But my day job, I work for APS. We are the largest and longest standing utility here in Arizona. We've been serving for over 130 years, this state. Serving before Arizona was a state. So we've been around a long, long time. I'm the vice president of external affairs, and I have three terrific teams. One team is economic development, so we focus on attracting businesses to Arizona-
Todd:
Which is key for a utility.
Stacy Derstine:
Key for utility, and selfishly our service territory. But we celebrate even when others get the locate. I have the community affairs team, so this is a team that works with our nonprofit network. We support, oh goodness, three to 400 nonprofits throughout the state through our grant process as well as our community programs, whether it's our tree planting program, our heat relief program. We also have a foundation, APS foundation, where we focus primarily on STEM-related grants. And then my third team is the public affairs team. And this is our local team that focuses on our relationships and engagement with our mayors, city councilmen and women, our county boards of supervisors, our chambers, we are in 59 cities and towns across Arizona. So we serve as far south as the Mexico border in Douglas and San Luis, and then all the way up into the Navajo reservation and Hopi. So we have a pretty vast service territory. So my team covers the entire state.
Todd:
It's easy for people, Phoenix, to think you're just Phoenix centric, but-
Stacy Derstine:
That's right.
Todd:
Turns out not at all.
Stacy Derstine:
Not at all. Not at all. So we're in some very rural parts of Arizona, so I think I have the best job in the company, and I have a phenomenal team. They work really hard in taking care of our communities and our stakeholders.
Todd:
We're very happy that we also get... You have a fourth job, which is-
Stacy Derstine:
Yes, with you.
Todd:
With us. And so we're really pleased about that. Something about you that we wouldn't find on your resume that would be interesting.
Stacy Derstine:
Well, let's see. First job, you'd know this about me now, but maybe many don't. So I've been with APS for, gosh, nearly 30 years, so a long, long time. But I started with APS back in 1988 when I was a senior in high school, and I just gave away my age. I probably shouldn't have said that, but I had the opportunity to be a part of an internship program. And so my senior year of high school, I worked four hours a day for APS.
Todd:
What did you do?
Stacy Derstine:
I was a final bills clerk and did everything from filing, answering phones, and then skip tracing. I don't know if you know what skip tracing is.
Todd:
No.
Stacy Derstine:
So it's where... This is not the most positive aspect of our business, but every business has this struggle where people don't pay their bills. So this was well before computers of this day where that's all happened. It all happens today automatically.
Todd:
Yeah.
Stacy Derstine:
Yeah, automatically. But it was a stack, I'd come in every day and there would be a stack of that green, remember the green and white? Now I'm really dating myself, but the green and white paper that had the holes down the side.
Todd:
Yeah.
Stacy Derstine:
And I had a yellow marker and a pink marker. And my job was to go page by page and match up customer information from many years ago to current to find out where we might be able to work with customers to pay. So I highlighted throughout the day, and now that happens through computers. So that was a long time ago.
Todd:
You probably skipped through my name.
Stacy Derstine:
Yes.
Todd:
... a few times I'm assuming.
Stacy Derstine:
But I didn't want to. I never thought I'd be in energy, and with the utility. My dad retired from APS after 46 years. I'm a bit of a utility brat, but that was not my path I wanted to be.
Todd:
What was the path? What were you going to go?
Stacy Derstine:
A nurse? I wanted to be a nurse.
Todd:
And that internship changed everything?
Stacy Derstine:
It did. It did. I was pursuing nursing classes after I graduated from high school, and I actually went, started part-time as an actual employee after the internship, and one thing led to another, and 30 ish, almost years later, I have had just an amazing, amazing career. And have worked with so many terrific people and worked for a many amazing people. So very blessed and honored to be a part of the APS family.
Todd:
It's a wonderful story, and I think some people would be surprised to hear that APS has a focus outside of just power generation, but really in just supporting the Arizona community. I'm not going to say local, the Arizona community through grants, looking at nonprofits, I mean that's a pretty significant commitment. And I'm assuming that's out of anything that the rate payers are paying for. These are a different set of dollars.
Stacy Derstine:
That's right. That's right. Our customers do not pay for our philanthropic efforts. Like I said, we've been around for over a hundred years and we are the fabric of these communities that we serve. From very small communities like Bisbee, Holbrook, Jerome, I mean some really small places that we take a lot of pride in showing up to the parades with our trash boxes or supporting their efforts in their nonprofit communities and their chambers. The chambers of commerce are so important as we know here with Phoenix, obviously. But it's a large chamber. These smaller communities, they really rely on the people that live, work and play in those communities to support them. And that's what we do from my team. The men and women that are literally keeping the lights on day in and day out, climbing the poles, running our power plants out in these communities. I mean they're invested in the communities. So it's really important to us. Really important to us.
Todd:
Well and it's significant. So moving on to your other day job. You've been a member of our board now for a number of years, but we tapped you a few years ago and asked you to lead the Chambers Foundation. Maybe talk a little bit about the foundation and why that was something that spoke to you.
Stacy Derstine:
Well, for folks that don't understand or know about the work that we do as the foundation, there's I mean I won't touch on all of them. But our focus is, one of our primary focus is convening businesses and being a catalyst for business in support of a number of areas, but specifically our education and focusing on our high school students and college and career readiness. And importantly, focusing on high wage, high demand jobs for our high schoolers that are trying to determine what pathway they want to take. Whether it's directly into college and having a better appreciation for the options and the pathways into college that will lead to being a part of the workforce that I know my company relies on and all of the Arizona businesses rely on.
Todd:
Well interesting parallel between your experience and this because sometimes internships tell you what you do, what you want to do or what you don't want to do.
Stacy Derstine:
That's right. That's right. Well and I think, I'll go back to the foundation, but to that point, sometimes they also just help you appreciate what it's like to go to work. I mean if you think about our kids, we just assume that they know how to clock in and how to dress and how to communicate and how to engage in the workplace. And it's not something our kids understand. And frankly, in the days of social media and the communication skills that they do have, it's different. And so just exposing kids to the workplace, whether it's in the field or in the office, there's great value that helps shape them no matter what they want to do.
Todd:
It really is. I thank Chick-fil-A this summer for teaching my son these these skills, but it really does make a difference. You have to get up. You have to be present. You have to groom yourself.
Stacy Derstine:
That's right.
Todd:
You have to look people in the eye and have a conversation. It makes a difference.
Stacy Derstine:
You have to brush your hair.
Todd:
Well, usually.
Stacy Derstine:
Well...
Todd:
Present company is good.
Stacy Derstine:
Present company, absolutely.
Todd:
Right. And so clearly post-Covid workforce is kind of the sexy thing. But you committed to this way before that.
Stacy Derstine:
Yes.
Todd:
Why?
Stacy Derstine:
I just think the work that we are doing at the foundation, the business community is relying on it. And frankly, our kiddos, and I know we can't call them kiddos, our kids and young adults, they need help in better understanding the pathways. And if we're not doing it, who's doing it? I mean, we have countless examples, and I brought my stats here. So when we get into the great work and the impact we're making. We are making a difference, a true difference. And just what? Was it last month we celebrated the interns that the foundation supports.
Todd:
We did.
Stacy Derstine:
For me, yes, I was an intern and it made a difference for me. I'm truly made a difference for me in my career path. But to be at that event where we celebrated, what was it, 77 interns. It was a special day. For me being a part of working with you and Jennifer and leading the board and seeing the fruits of our labor. I mean that's powerful stuff.
Todd:
It is.
Stacy Derstine:
These are 77 kids or young adults that had the opportunity to work with some pretty amazing companies here in the Phoenix area or in Arizona and get exposed to things that they would've have ever been able to be exposed had we not had the program we have through the foundation. And what a great way to spend my free time then investing in our youth and the workforce that's critical to support the growth that's happening here.
Todd:
It is very rewarding to see something come full circle like that.
Stacy Derstine:
It is.
Todd:
And to see some of the data. Let's talk a little bit about, you mentioned the high schools and part of our work with Elevate Ed, the program through the foundation. Maybe for people who aren't familiar, talk a little bit about Elevate Ed and what we do.
Stacy Derstine:
So Elevate Ed AZ, what, six years ago we launched that?
Todd:
I think around six years.
Stacy Derstine:
Okay. So we've been-
Todd:
Six year overnight success story.
Stacy Derstine:
Yes. Yes. So Elevate Ed, as I when I describe it to people, this is a grassroots program where we are embedded in the high schools where we are working side- by-side, face-to-face with students, faculty, administration, and parents in doing what we just talked about. Driving awareness around the opportunities that exist for these students after high school and helping them a appreciate what they want to do. Because I mean who knows what they want to do. I mean do you know what just, I mean [inaudible 00:11:39]-
Todd:
I still don't know.
Stacy Derstine:
I just, say yes. But in high school it's a confusing time. And this is a program where we started small. In fact, kudos to obviously you and Jennifer and the team, but also Dr. Chad Guston.
Todd:
Yes.
Stacy Derstine:
From Phoenix Union High School District.
Todd:
He took a chance on us.
Stacy Derstine:
He took a chance and said, "We got to do this and we've got to meet these kids where they are. And we have to help them, help them with what pathway works for them." And when I think about this last year with this program, and I have to also, we have to give a shout out to Dr. Fortis.
Todd:
Of course, Mesa.
Stacy Derstine:
With Mesa.
Todd:
Of course.
Stacy Derstine:
A public school district. Those are our two initial champions in the earlier years that without them, again, we wouldn't have the success that we have. But this program is just creating great opportunities for these kids and their families and the pathways that they have available to them.
And when I think back, in fact, was it just last week with the board meeting? We were just talking about what a great year this has been. And with Elevate Ed, we made some decisions a year or so ago that we were going to move forward with an expansion plan that expanded our footprint. We were in five schools-
Todd:
Correct.
Stacy Derstine:
[inaudible 00:13:01] last year, two school districts. And through the persistence of Jennifer Miller, our champion, and-
Todd:
She's tenacious.
Stacy Derstine:
She is tenacious. And others on the team said, "We're going to be aggressive and we're going to lean in." And so this year we said, "Look, we're going to go from five to 13 schools and two districts to four districts."
Todd:
Correct.
Stacy Derstine:
And I'm going to admit, I remember in the steering committee thinking, okay, and then looking even beyond how we're growing, it's hey, are we growing too fast? But believed in the team, believed in the mission. And fast forward, we are in 13 schools. We are in four school districts and achieved some phenomenal results as a result of the aggressive and expansion plan that's impacted, gosh, this last year, 40, almost 40,000 kids.
Todd:
Yeah. It's stunning when you think of it. And we're poised for growth next year as well.
Stacy Derstine:
That's right. 20 schools.
Todd:
Absolutely.
Stacy Derstine:
20 schools.
Todd:
And part of, when I talk to people about what we do and the fact that we're embedded, one thing that always resonates is the fact that our student to guidance counselor ratio is I think like 960 to one. So 960 kids to one guidance counselor. That's not enough. And for us to have actual boots on the ground in these schools working with the administration and our students and the parents, to your point, can really change the trajectory of a kid that may or may not know where he or she's going.
Stacy Derstine:
That's right. That's right. Yeah. Having our college and career coaches in the schools, there's no better way. You cannot appreciate the dynamics and the opportunities to pivot to change or what the need is if you're not there. You cannot do it from a central office and providing that support to the district is really exciting. And our college and career coaches, they love it. They are truly invested in pouring into these kids.
Todd:
Well, it's gratifying after so many years of thinking about how can we do something different in the education space and maybe talking about it at the policy level for so many years and just saying, we're tired of admiring this issue. Why don't we do something about it?
Stacy Derstine:
Yeah, that's right.
Todd:
And to see something happening.
Stacy Derstine:
That's right. Yeah. And I think that's the benefit of being in the schools is we can look at it from a systems perspective and being in now so many schools and just so we give our partners-
Todd:
Yes, please.
Stacy Derstine:
A shout out, we're in Deer Valley School District, Paradise Valley, as well as ASU charter schools. And so now that makes five with Phoenix Union and Mesa. Did I miss any?
Todd:
And more to come.
Stacy Derstine:
So many more to come. In fact, school districts or schools can apply to be part of our program. And for me, just thinking about that, where we're going out and saying, okay, superintendents, principals, look at our program and look at the impact and how we can help your students. And now we have schools coming to us. And I think that is just a testament to the tenacity of Jennifer and you and the partnerships that we have that show that this is working and the best is yet to come.
Todd:
Well and I think part of this obviously is related to a measure that passed through the legislature this year was included in the budget, and that relates to dual enrollment. Talk a little bit about dual enrollment and what this measure will mean for us.
Stacy Derstine:
So a little bit about dual enrollment. I think any parents that are listening, you may have heard about it and you may not know what it means. In fact, I think most parents don't. And was it Jim Rounds just recently said, "Look, we're engaged parents. And I had no idea, that my son was graduating," I think he said with 40 credits. But it's such an amazing tool that our schools offer where there are classes that students enroll in, and some of these classes are taking just part of the normal curriculum. But if they go through the process to enroll, and they will get credit, college credit for those classes. And part of what we're doing with Elevate Ed AZ and in the schools is making sure we're driving awareness on the dual enrollment program, the value to the students and the families to take advantage of dual enrollment in high school.
Because then if the pathways into college are that further ahead on college credits. And so awareness is one thing, making the process easy and providing incentives for the students and the families as well as the teachers. And so this measure that was approved by the legislature and included in the budget, of $15 million?
Todd:
Yes.
Stacy Derstine:
Keep me honest here. $15 million that will go to all those things I just mentioned. Incentives for students to pay for the credits, incentives for the schools and teachers to drive dual enrollment and-
Todd:
Well and I think to your point about teachers, I mean teachers have to go get additional certification.
Stacy Derstine:
That's right.
Todd:
So I think the thought was make sure that if they're doing extra work, just like you would in the private sector, we're going to make sure we take care of them.
Stacy Derstine:
That's right. That's right. Yeah.
Todd:
So we just got the stats back. I don't know if you've heard or you were privy to them in terms of that first cohort of kids that we worked with in the dual enrollment space.
Stacy Derstine:
Yes.
Todd:
Maybe want to share those, that data.
Stacy Derstine:
Yeah. So I believe our... And I know the numbers are still being refined, but when we have an early success, we want to shout it from the rooftops. And I guess a couple of stats are the credits that we had this year from our dual enrollment programs within the schools we support, I believe was 3,500 credits. And of the dual enrollment classes that were completed, 98% received a C or better, 98, who gets a stat of 98%? C or better. And just this year with the work, and I know it's attributed to the work that our college and career coaches are doing in the schools, we had a 40% increase in dual and enrollment with just-
Todd:
In one year.
Stacy Derstine:
In one year with just Phoenix Union and Mesa. I don't even know if that number is inclusive of our new schools. That is just phenomenal. It just, again, an amazing tool to help these students that want to pursue college after high school to get a jumpstart on it. It's phenomenal. I don't think there's anyone that could compete with those stats. A lot to be proud of, a lot to be proud of.
Todd:
It really is. It's great to see the progress. And what was interesting and sort of unheard of, there was a bipartisan support for that measure at the legislature, which pretty rare these days. And I think it shows you that this is a common sense solution to something that's going to impact the state for years to come.
Stacy Derstine:
That's right. Yeah.
Todd:
So you mentioned internships. Maybe talk a little bit about how they're structured. Is it a couple days? Back in the day, I wasn't able to get an internship. I wasn't lucky enough. People thought, well, internships, you're kind of getting coffee, you're doing filing. Is it a little different today? And how long does it last?
Stacy Derstine:
So the internship I had, and I know they have evolved over time, it was four hours a day, five days a week. So it was a great gig for a-
Todd:
Pretty substantial.
Stacy Derstine:
... an 18 year old. And so I think the beautiful part about our program is the internships can be whatever works for not only the student but also the employer. So we've got businesses that are opening up their businesses to these young adults. In fact, some of them are not adults yet. They're under 18. And that's a hurdle that we are still working as a foundation to help clear that hurdle. But the value proposition for the business community to bring these young people into their business is significant as well as obviously the benefit to the student. And I think oftentimes people say, "Well, these kids, they don't know anything. They don't have any skills." And that that's okay.
They're hungry to learn. These are kids and we, that's our... I had the pleasure of being able to introduce them all at the celebration. They're hungry to learn and explore. And to our earlier conversation just a minute ago, just being exposed to the business community or a trade. Learning how to build those skills or appreciating if it's even something they want to do, it's just hugely valuable. So we work really closely with our business partners and the business community to get them to the table and create an internship, a program that works.
Todd:
Well and I think that's the key, is being really intentional about having those relationships. There's one of our partners is Fortune 500 Company, probably Fortune 200 that was reluctant, got through the regulatory side of that and now has actually expanded the program and has actually hired some of these kids. Which is just incredible.
Stacy Derstine:
Yeah. Yeah. We got to show the video of, I don't think we can say the name of the company. Can we say the name of the company?
Todd:
Well, we'll just let that be up to people's imaginations.
Stacy Derstine:
Okay.
Todd:
But it's a Fortune 200.
Stacy Derstine:
Yes. Yeah. Just a great partner of ours. And they were super, super thrilled to be able to offer a job to one of these interns and to see the expression. It was priceless. It was priceless.
Todd:
It's interesting. Before we started in Phoenix, we actually were in Denver talking to some companies that do this. And it was a tech company. So we were talking with the interns and the traditional staff and they all seemed great. And we got a moment to talk to the engineers from this business and we said, "Okay, if you strip it all the way, what's the downside?" And they said, "There is a downside. And that is these kids are so fast, we have a hard time keeping up with them on the IT side."
Stacy Derstine:
Oh yeah.
Todd:
Which is just, that's what you want to hear.
Stacy Derstine:
Well just look in our own homes with our own kids and how they help us navigate our own technology. So absolutely. And I think we see that not only with the interns, but then you fast forward to college interns and then post college. I know that's what we experience is these young adults or these kids, they're ready to be CEO in six months. So they're fast, they're ready, they're hungry, and they are the future of our workforce. And as the business community looks at our pipeline, I mean we've got to recognize that we rely on these high school students. We rely on our community colleges and our trade schools, vocational schools, and our university systems to support they're businesses. And hopefully we educate them and we keep them here in Arizona.
Todd:
Agree. And keeping them here is so key. So what would you tell a business owner, business leader that is hearing this and saying, "Yeah, we have an internship program, it's for college kids, but there's no way we're going to bring high school kids in."
Stacy Derstine:
And admittedly, we're still working through that. So 30 years ago we did it and now we're still grappling with creating our program. It can be done and we know it. We've got today at least 134 businesses in the Phoenix area or Arizona, so have a footprint like ours outside of Phoenix, many of them that have committed to partner with the Greater Phoenix Chamber Foundation, specifically Elevate Ed to support the program however they can. And so that is through internships, job shadow opportunities, mentoring, helping us with our teacher externship programs, doing resume writing workshops, going into a classroom and talking about their field of expertise. There are so many ways to engage. So my call to action to anyone listening, if you're an Arizona business, do your part, help us invest in the future workforce and the pipeline that we so desperately need here in Arizona and call us. We'll sit down and talk with you about what it takes to participate in our internship program and what maybe some of the hurdles that some companies view as hurdles that, how others have gotten over that.
Todd:
Because we've seen that success.
Stacy Derstine:
We've seen it. Yes, we've seen it. So we do have companies that hire the students that are 17 and some that are 18, some are 19 depending on where their birthdays fall in their senior year. But there's opportunities for sure. And it doesn't just stop at internships. So have-
Todd:
I think that's an important point.
Stacy Derstine:
It is.
Todd:
Any externship for teachers, really important. The job shadows, I know you did that. I mean you had a big group of kids come out.
Stacy Derstine:
Yes.
Todd:
I think to one of the generation facilities correct?
Stacy Derstine:
We did three job shadow opportunities. And so that would be another easy way for businesses to engage. I think we all like to talk about what we do, and if you can show people what you do, it's even more fun. The show and tell aspect of our business and some a little more boring than others. But we did three, we brought some groups from, our first group was from Metro Tech, Phoenix Union, and I think we had 15, 20 kids that came out. And we talked about engineering and the opportunities in the utility or their energy business for engineers.
We showed them our operations center. They got to see how we manage the grid, both our high voltage system that connects our states in the western region, but also the wires and poles outside of their homes. They got to see digital wall boards. And it was just really fascinating to see their...
Todd:
Oh yeah.
Stacy Derstine:
You could see them connecting dots and their eyes being open to maybe a possibility. We brought another group of students out to our generation facility, our West Phoenix power plant, where we have our training facility where we train our line workers, the men and women that climb the wood poles and keep the lights on.
Todd:
There's a great video of this too.
Stacy Derstine:
There is a great video of this. And we let the kids put on the 50 pound tool belt that these folks have to put on and there's spikes and climb up the wood pole, which never, never do it. But we just, it's about exposing these kids to opportunities, whether they ever choose a career in energy, that's okay. But they get to go home and they get to talk to their parents about what they learned. They get to see how we operate in a safe environment, what we do for the state. And so it's a great way just to share our message, but also open up possibilities for these kids. So lots of great opportunities to work with the foundation.
Todd:
Agree. Absolutely. And we also have the workforce collaboratives that that focus on key areas in the industry as well.
Stacy Derstine:
We do. And I think back to the part of our mission on not just education with high schoolers, but it's about talent pipeline for workforce and importantly understanding the needs of the business community. And I think that's what we do so well as a chamber, is we convene the business community and we say, "What do you need? How do we help?" And we identified six key areas that based on our research and the data that we have access to, or we convene studies to validate, as well as listening to the business community. We know that cybersecurity is a critical area. And so we've created a workforce collaborative around cybersecurity IT and now add AI into the mix. I mean Lord knows what that's going to look like, which is a whole scary proposition. Advanced manufacturing with TSMC Intel, core power that all of the manufacturing that's coming to the valley, which is so exciting.
We've got to make sure that we've got workers for these companies. Construction. You can't drive within any city corridor and not see cranes. The construction industry continues to boom. And then what did I miss? Financial services and healthcare.
Todd:
Healthcare.
Stacy Derstine:
And healthcare. All of those six work collaboratives are key to the work that we're doing. And what I love about this structure of these programs is they're business led. So we engage with the business community and not only tell us how we help you, but come join us and help us lead these collaboratives. And so we have some tremendous leaders that are leading these collaboratives and creating real results.
Todd:
I agree.
Stacy Derstine:
Real results.
Todd:
And they're all different. And to your point, construction, you can't grow if you can't build. IT, advanced manufacturing. And I think there's a nice elegant tie in to the work we're doing with Elevate Ed too in the high schools.
Stacy Derstine:
That's right. Absolutely.
Todd:
In these two programs.
Stacy Derstine:
Absolutely. Yep. For sure.
Todd:
So you mentioned numerous times, you've used the word leadership, which I think is appropriate. How do you define leadership?
Stacy Derstine:
Well, for me, leadership is about support and empowerment. Leadership is never about us. And I think we know that. And if you're working for a leader and it's all about them, then I'm not sure that that's true leadership, in my opinion. I may have just gotten myself in trouble a little bit, but leadership is about our people and our teams and the work that we're doing together to achieve impacts in our community or business results. And true leaders are the ones that are supportive and empowering their teams to do the work that they were hired to do. And accountability, I mean there's an accountability element to leadership, and that means asking the tough questions, challenging appropriately, and getting out of the way.
I think oftentimes we have leaders that get in the way and they don't let their teams collaborate and create and do the work the way they believe it needs to be done. And there's fields where there is one way to do it because safety's involved. But that's the beauty about leadership to me, is allowing people to create a way of doing the work that oftentimes can be more efficient than I would ever think to do it right. But to me, also, leadership is about humility and no ego.
Todd:
I couldn't agree more. The ego part I think is so important there, because if you take the ego out of it tends to be a lot more effective. And I think about the way you lead, you do that and you empower people. And I think that leads to really big things. Obviously on the board level, the foundation level, but with my team as well and I think that's why we see so much success. But I'll ask you then, you volunteer with the chamber, and I'm sure there are other areas, why? You don't have to do that, right?
Stacy Derstine:
No, I mean I would say one, it's something that I find a ton of joy in giving back, whether it's in the nonprofit human services base or in the business community through the impact work we're doing through the foundation. It's just what a better way to spend time than truly making, helping an organization or individuals make a difference. But I have to say, and back to APS and the community aspect, it is, it's fundamental to who we are. And it's expected. We expect our employees to give back. We expect our employees to volunteer. It's a metric that we talk about at our officer meetings, on our scorecard.
Todd:
So you guys watch that? You actually-
Stacy Derstine:
Absolutely.
Todd:
... talk about what are we doing?
Stacy Derstine:
Yes.
Todd:
Aside from your normal metrics.
Stacy Derstine:
Yes.
Todd:
Okay.
Stacy Derstine:
Yeah. And we invite and encourage our people to volunteer and they can take their teams in the middle of the day and go down to St. Vincent DePaul and make pizzas or serve those in need or the human services campus that's right down the street. We have a very intentional strategy around our community impact and our giving. Our board service, we have around 300 employees that sit on nonprofit boards that we support. So that's just a fundamental expectation and belief within the highest levels of our company. So Jeff Golden, our CEO, Ted Geister, our president. I mean that is an expectation. All of our officers sit on boards, nonprofit boards, so it's in our DNA at at APS, and it's just a fantastic piece of what we get to do day in and day out. Keeping the lights on, which reliability and safety is our top priority. But our communities are very special to us, and we care deeply about the prosperity of the state.
Todd:
So I think we're really blessed in Arizona to have leaders that think this way. But once in a while you'll run across a transactional business leader with a small L who basically says, if it's not associated with a bottom line, I'm not doing it. What would you say to that?
Stacy Derstine:
Yeah, I got to be careful here. I'm kidding. I think that for publicly traded companies, I think that we talk a lot about shareholder value, and Jeff Goldner, our CEO, will talk about customer value. And that shareholder value comes from customer value and appreciating our customers and our communities and being good stewards. And I think that there's studies, I can't recite them now, but I know they exist and have seen them in the past, that that can connect corporate citizenship, customer experience, community stewardship with bottom line. And that doesn't necessarily apply across the board to every industry. I think that goes without saying. That when we have service in our name, Arizona Public Service, and to not have that be a pillar of what we do as a company, service not only our customers, but our communities and stakeholders. It just, it would be, just wouldn't make sense.
Todd:
Well I know from just our staff, there is a expectation that we're going to do some of that. So I'm assuming from a retention standpoint and an attraction standpoint, that's something that employees are looking for.
Stacy Derstine:
Absolutely. They are. And it's interesting to watch how the workforce of today and the worker of the future is looking at how they make employment choices. And you and I were making choices, we were looking at pay and benefits and a 401k. Well those traditional tools for compensation or rewards and recognition are very different. Very important still for most but they care about what are you doing in the community? What opportunities do I have to grow? What is your carbon footprint? What are you doing for the community, the environment? How do you give back? I mean it's pretty phenomenal to hear some of the questions in an interview at the end when you say, "What questions do you have for me?" The worker of today, or the young people coming into the workforce, they are on it and they have expectations and they'll hold you accountable. If you aren't, do... If your say do ratio is not what they think it should be, they're gone. They are not sticking around for that 401K or the benefits that they just need. It's just different. It's just different.
Todd:
I couldn't agree more.
Stacy Derstine:
I can't relate sometimes, but, to some of it. But it's different and it's exciting.
Todd:
We've seen that in the hiring that we've been doing that that's a... Sure, salaries is an important conversation, but that's not the first conversation.
Stacy Derstine:
No.
Todd:
A lot of it has to do with what is it we're doing in the community.
Stacy Derstine:
That's right. That's right.
Todd:
Well, it's been such a pleasure and I want to thank you for not only being here, but for all of the leadership and all the work that you put into this. Clearly, as you all can see, you know these stats, you know the work we're doing. It wasn't like we had to brief you on it. You knew it and you know it, and you're really engaged. Before we go, we're going to do a quick lightning round.
Stacy Derstine:
Oh, shoot.
Todd:
Because you know I like to do.
Stacy Derstine:
Okay.
Todd:
And you mentioned first job, but let's talk about first non-professional job that you have.
Stacy Derstine:
So it was, oh gosh, I guess it would've been my sophomore year of high school. I mean of course babysitting and all that, that doesn't count. I was the Easter bunny at the Animus Valley Mall in Farmington, New Mexico.
Todd:
How was that?
Stacy Derstine:
How was that? My back was, it was broken for a month after. I was probably 105 pounds at the time and lifting these kids up for an entire weekend. I had a broken back. But that was my first paying job, thankfully, for just an Easter weekend. And it was a favor to my dad who was in the, I think it was a Civitan group in Farmington, New Mexico where I was born and raised. And yeah, I was the Easter bunny. Big ears, big feet and everything. It was nutty.
Todd:
What did you learn?
Stacy Derstine:
There's a way to lift.
Todd:
Well that probably served you well.
Stacy Derstine:
Yeah, it did. It was fun. It was fun.
Todd:
Okay, so obviously you have an amazing job, we know that. But what would be the dream job if you could do anything?
Stacy Derstine:
So I think it would be, so two different ones maybe. So I'm a huge animal fan. Dogs. If I could get a ranch or a house or something and just have a rescue where I didn't have to live there, but I spent my time there and hired loving people to rescue and adopt dogs, that would probably be it. And that's only because we just rescued a dog almost a year ago and he has changed really our lives.
Todd:
Really?
Stacy Derstine:
Oh. He's my, I just love him [inaudible 00:39:44]-
Todd:
Where did you rescue him from?
Stacy Derstine:
It's a park in Maryville. We were doing a, it's called El Oso Park.
Todd:
Okay. The bear.
Stacy Derstine:
So [inaudible 00:39:53] yes, the bear. We were doing a volunteer event with the city of Phoenix. They have a new heat relief program as you're very much aware of. I think that they're now, they've been stood up over a year now. And we started at the park and the mission was to walk around that entire community. It was like 75th Avenue and McDowell, or I think McDowell or Thomas now, I'm getting my streets mixed up. And with wagons of water, cooling towels. So heat relief supplies. And we pass them out to people in need, homeless folks or people just waiting at the bus stop or people that needed some relief. And when we sat out, I saw this thing in the grass and I thought it was a dirty mop head, but it was a dog. And this dog, fast forward, we gave him some water and then we left and did our volunteer event. Walked about a mile away. And on our way back to the park, we see this dog coming down the street and had walked a long ways to get, and he was limping, he could hardly walk.
He saw us and he perked up and he went across the street. And I said to my people, I said, "I can't see this dog get hit." So I'm stopping traffic on 75th Avenue. And then my colleague goes to the other side and stops traffic. And the city of Phoenix, people are like, these people are, these APS people are crazy. They'll do anything. This dog hops along the street. And I had to get bags on my hands because he was gross, rescued him. But long story short, the animal control through Maricopa County picked him up. They spent almost three hours shaving this poor little guy.
Todd:
Oh. So he's matted up.
Stacy Derstine:
Three, four years worth of being on the streets. And my husband and I met, we rescued him and we were going to find a home and we fell in love with him.
Todd:
What's his name?
Stacy Derstine:
Oso.
Todd:
Oh, perfect.
Stacy Derstine:
Yeah. Perfect. He's deaf. He couldn't wag his tail.
Todd:
Most dogs are [inaudible 00:41:56] didn't listen anyway.
Stacy Derstine:
Yeah. I know, I know. But he, I know. So he's just brought so much love in our house. He wags his tail now and he can walk and he's amazing.
Todd:
Well, ironic that you were actually going to volunteer and give back to the community and you got something pretty significant in return.
Stacy Derstine:
I got something back. Yeah. Yeah. He's precious.
Todd:
Well maybe we'll see a picture of Oso one of these days.
Stacy Derstine:
Yes.
Todd:
And then finally, Ron Howard calls, he's going to make the movie of your life, maybe starting with Easter bunny. What's the title of the movie?
Stacy Derstine:
Oh geez. Come on Todd. What's the title of the movie?
Todd:
Of your life.
Stacy Derstine:
Just Say Yes.
Todd:
Okay. See. Perfect.
Stacy Derstine:
Just Say Yes.
Todd:
Excellent. I love that. Thank you. Thanks for spending so much time with us. We would love to have you back maybe next year as we go into the expansion with Elevate Ed. Maybe we can see a picture of the pup. `.
Stacy Derstine:
Yep, that would be great.
Todd:
And see how the movie's going.
Stacy Derstine:
Well I just want to thank you for your leadership and just happy to work alongside you and the team. So thanks for having me.
Todd:
Thank you.