In this month’s Q&A, learn more about Mark Jacob, who has served in his current role as Vice President, Capital Programs & Engineering/Quality Systems for eight years. He began his career at Citizens in August 2011, when Citizens acquired the water and wastewater utilities from the City of Indianapolis.
Where did you work before coming to Citizens?Before coming to the utility, I worked for a design and program management consulting firm, where I managed the stormwater, wastewater, and combined sewer overflow (CSO) programs for the City of Indianapolis. Prior to that, I was the Deputy Director for the City, where I oversaw transportation, stormwater, wastewater, and CSO capital programs. I also oversaw the privatized wastewater operations for the City.
What are your primary responsibilities?I oversee the teams that are responsible for the planning, design and construction of all of Citizens’ utility infrastructure; this also includes all facets of the DigIndy Tunnel System. I also oversee the Quality Systems, Real Estate, Fleet Operations and Facilities Operations departments, as well as permitting for water and wastewater services for private development within the City.
What is a typical day like for you?At Citizens, we implement more than $250 million of capital projects per year, spread out over hundreds of projects. A typical day involves reviewing contracts, negotiating term agreements, providing guidance on complex projects, helping address customer concerns from some of our projects, updating our leadership on many of these issues, and helping complete the DigIndy program.
How do you see the One Company, One Culture initiative impacting our work at Citizens?Every single day, I consider Citizens’ One Company, One Culture philosophy and how I can incorporate it into my job and encourage it among the employees I lead. That philosophy comforts me in that we are surrounded by a larger team and we are never alone in addressing our work. I am so proud of our employees because every day they are demonstrating One Company, One Culture in ways I had not yet considered. I am confident that it is improving the quality of our services to our customers and strengthening our relationships with each other. What we have here at Citizens is truly unique.
What are your hobbies or interests outside of work?
I enjoy woodworking. I also love fishing, canoeing, camping, bike riding, and traveling with my family and my friends. I am also proud to support our community in many ways, including being involved with Citizens’ Sharing the Dream event; the Partnership for Excellence in Research and Learning (PERL); our Purdue Bound scholarship golf outing; the Friends of Garfield Park - Strength Through Activity, Responsibility, and Service (STARS) program; and the annual Engineer’s Week, during which we speak to high school students about careers in engineering. In addition, because I had successful open-heart surgery in 1999, I have gotten very engaged with the American Heart Association (AHA). I have served as Chairman of the Heart & Stroke Ball twice. I am on the Board of Directors of the local AHA. In July, I will begin a two-year term as Chairman of that Board.
My wife and I have three children. Our oldest, Lucas, is a mechanical engineer who graduated from Purdue University. Our twins, Matthew and Jordan, are both in their first year of graduate school. Matthew graduated from Purdue and is now pursuing a PhD in chemical engineering at the University of Minnesota. Jordan graduated from Butler and she is now earning her law degree from Indiana University. Our family enjoys vacationing on the island of Captiva, Florida, and have been doing so for decades. We recently also bought an RV and look forward to camping trips and tailgating this year with friends and family.
