Jeffrey Lyash

 

 

 

Progress Energy Florida

President and

Chief Executive Officer

 

St. Petersburg, Florida
Jeff Lyash is president and chief executive officer of Progress Energy Florida.
 
Progress Energy Florida, a subsidiary of Progress Energy, provides electricity and related services to nearly 1.7 million customers in Florida. The company serves a territory of 35 counties, which includes the cities of St. Petersburg and Clearwater, the Central Florida area surrounding Orlando and communities throughout the Big Bend. The company’s headquarters is at 299 First Ave. N., St. Petersburg.
 
Less than a year into his executive role, Lyash was named to the St. Petersburg Times’ 2007 list of emerging business leaders “who are blazing trails.”
 
“It isn't every day that an executive can move into a new 16- story headquarters in St. Petersburg, unveil a state-altering decision to build a multibillion-dollar nuclear power plant in job- hungry Levy County and collaborate to kick start a progressive ‘arts hub’ in the city's downtown. That wide-ranging, can-do attitude is one reason Jeff Lyash, Progress Energy Florida's CEO for all of seven months, is catching the eye of his peers in the Tampa Bay area,” wrote St. Petersburg Times Business Editor Robert Trigaux in an article published Jan. 28.
 
Lyash earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering in 1984 from Drexel University in Philadelphia, which he attended on a wrestling scholarship. Before joining Progress Energy, Lyash was at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, where he worked as a project manager and senior resident inspector in Washington and at various nuclear power plants in the Northeast.
 
Lyash came to Progress Energy in 1993 and spent his first eight years at the Brunswick Nuclear Plant in Southport, N.C., in a number of management roles, ending as director of site operations. Lyash then served as vice president of Transmission in the Carolinas. He moved to Florida in November 2003 when he became senior vice president of Energy Delivery in Florida, overseeing electric distribution operations, customer service and community relations.
 
Lyash took over the CEO role from the retiring Bill Habermeyer in June 2006. Lyash said he is carving out a role for himself in community efforts and vowed that he and Progress Energy Florida will remain engaged.
 
“We're one of the largest companies in the area. Both the company and I have the responsibility to be involved and to make our involvement substantial,” Lyash said.
 
Lyash is co-chairman of a public-private task force formed earlier this year that is working with the Pinellas County Homeless Leadership Network to locate up to 200 transitional housing beds. Lyash serves on the boards of many community organizations, including Enterprise Florida, Tampa Bay Partnership, Florida Orchestra, SunTrust-Tampa Bay, Pinellas Education Foundation, Museum of Fine Arts and the Florida Chamber of Commerce Foundation. He is a member of the Florida Council of 100, the Florida High Tech Corridor and Metro Orlando Economic Development. He also serves on a number of utility industry organizations.
 
A native of Shamokin, Pa., Lyash and his wife, Tracy, live in Seminole and have two children, Nate, and Rachel . He enjoys restoring cars, golfing, fly fishing, hiking and whitewater kayaking.