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Tom Tribone

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Tom Tribone
Addressing Global Issues Class
NationalityAmerican

Thomas Tribone is the founder and CEO of Franklin Park Infrastructure Inc.[1] Franklin Park owns and manages energy and infrastructure businesses worldwide. The firm's main operating companies are located in North and South America, India, China and the Middle East. The firm's operating units include renewable and conventional energy, transportation, energy storage and logistics. He is also Chairman of the board of directors of a closed-end investment fund in London, Infrastructure India PLC.[2] He has served as a board member for a number of corporate,[3] industry[4] and academic organizations.[5] Tribone was an early member of the AES Corporation, serving as its Executive Vice President [6] and number-two executive before he left to start Franklin Park.[7] Earlier he held general management positions at Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO).

Business career

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Early in his career at ARCO, Tribone advocated for and implemented the installation of some of the first acid rain pollution control equipment on industrial power plants.[8] He then turned his focus to increasing energy productivity by the use of improved processes, such as Cogeneration.[8] This work led to the commercialization of the initial large-scale, market-based power plants in the United States (as joint ventures between ARCO and AES) and to the introduction of competition in the previously monopolistic electricity sector.

These original projects marked the beginnings of the Independent Power Industry[9] and formed the model later followed by the Renewable Energy sector. Much of the commercial and financial structure of these industries is rooted in this formative work. Tribone has originated and executed many of these large, path-finding transactions in both the United States and in major emerging markets, such as Mexico, Brazil, India and China.

Overseas, he completed the first direct foreign investment in Brazil’s energy sector after the full restoration of democracy and the election of Fernando Henrique Cardoso as President in the 1990s.[10] He led transactions to open foreign energy markets, such as the first private power plant in Mexico[11][12] and the first bilateral treaty between Brazil and Argentina for a natural gas pipeline.[13] Activities like this and others, such as a power company dedicated to China,[8] helped develop the concept of a global electric power industry. In China, Tribone was involved in bringing an efficient, environmentally friendly road-building technology developed in the United States, asphalt-rubber,[14] to China for the first time.[15]

In testimony before the U.S. Congress, Tribone observed that technological and market forces were “shrinking” the scope of natural monopoly.[16] This line of thinking led him to believe that there would be societal benefits in merging regulated monopolies with competitive firms and he conceived and completed the earliest consolidations in the United States between monopoly utility companies,[17][18][19] and competitive, non-utility firms. This consolidation has been a major, continuing trend.[20] Tribone is described as a “most creative” new business developer in the book Joy at Work.[21] In Joy at Work he was quoted as saying that "sometimes we have to try things out in practice to see if they work in theory" to express the idea that breakthroughs often are rooted in both analysis and a healthy dose of empiricism. Author Peter Grose, in his book Power to People, offers an additional description of Tribone’s entrepreneurial contributions.[22]

Tribone was nominated as a finalist for the Standard and Poors Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016 and 2017. This award is granted by Standard and Poors as a Platts Global Energy Award and is often called the Emmy award for the energy industry.[23] His Excellency Abdalla Salem El-Badri, the longest-serving secretary general in the history of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), and Harold Hamm, founder, chairman and CEO of Continental Resources ultimately won this award.[24]

In 2017, Tom was inducted by Joe Namath into the Hall of Achievement of The Magical Coach Foundation for Business Leadership.[25] Namath sponsors the foundation as a tribute to his high school coach.

Management style

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As an undergraduate,Tribone was exposed to the research of psychologist Frederick Herzberg[26] at Case Western Reserve University, where Herzberg served as a professor. Partly based on these findings and his own experience, Tribone developed a unique, people-centered management style that has been written about by authors such as Robert H. Waterman Jr. (the co-author of one of the most influential business books ever written, In Search of Excellence).[27]

In his book, What America Does Right[28] Waterman has written of Tribone: "But Tom Tribone is one of those people who resist the status quo. Tribone has the 'Colombo' factor, like Detective Colombo on the old television show, if something doesn’t make sense, Tribone asks why and keeps asking until he gets an answer that does make sense.” In this book, Tribone's ideas were summarized in the title of a chapter called "Everyone a Leader" in which Waterman described some of Tribone's management concepts. One example related how, while leading a unionized manufacturing plant early in his career, Tribone materially increased manufacturing capability and employee satisfaction through a new combination of specific guidance and light-handed supervision. In Robert M. Grant's case study, "AES Corporation: Rewriting the Rules of Management," Grant[29] relayed Tribone's ideas on the subject of teams and how they can be, in Tribone's words, "a natural way to get big things done while preserving the dignity of each person."

Board memberships

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Center for Advancement of Energy Markets, Electric Power Supply Association, Powerline Communication Association,

U.S. Environmental Technology Institute, Argentine American Chamber of Commerce, India Infrastructure PLC,

Brazil U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Case Western Reserve University, Institute for Energy Innovation

Inter-regional Transmission Coordination Forum, AES China Generating Company, Infrastructure India PLC,

Cemig S.A. Board of Directors [NYSE:CIG], Electric Distribution of the Future Forum, Institute for Energy Innovation,

Consumers Energy Council of America, International Energy Development Council,

Northern Virginia CYO Athletics Board of Directors, U.S. Chamber of Commerce,

Guggenheim Global Infrastructure Company, Duquesne University Board of Directors,

Georgia Institute of Technology - The Strategic Energy Institute, United States Department of Commerce - Baldridge Board of Overseers

Publications

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Tribone, Tom (2021, February 25). How can Texas prevent another power failure? Washington Examiner.

Tribone, Tom (2022, July 27). A Russian oil price cap will not lower gas prices. Cleveland Plain Dealer.

Tribone, Tom (2024, August 5). How the US should be more strategic about engaging with Latin America. Dallas Morning News.

Tribone, Tom (2024, November 3). Keeping America No. 1 in AI means seeing energy as the catalyst. Cleveland Plain Dealer.

Education

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Tribone received his Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Chemical Engineering from Case Western Reserve University and both his MBA and Juris Doctor (J.D.) from Duquesne University. He was awarded the Case Gold Medal.[30][31] This award, which was originally established to recognize Nobel Laureates from Case, is Case's highest career recognition award.[32] The Tribone Center at Duquesne provides free legal support to Veterans and other members of the Pittsburgh community.[33][34]

References

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  1. ^ "Home". franklinpark.com.
  2. ^ "Home". iiplc.com.
  3. ^ "Stocks". Bloomberg News. 28 July 2023.
  4. ^ "EPSA: Latest News". Archived from the original on 2016-01-26. Retrieved 2016-01-19.
  5. ^ "Advisory Board | Case School of Engineering | Case Western Reserve University". 7 February 2020.
  6. ^ "AES CORP - AES Proxy Statement (definitive) (DEF 14A) SECURITY OWNERSHIP OF CERTAIN BENEFICIAL OWNERS". sec.edgar-online.com.
  7. ^ "Franklin Park to invest US$100mn - BNamericas". Archived from the original on 2013-10-04. Retrieved 2011-05-19.
  8. ^ a b c "Nexis Uni® - Sign In | LexisNexis". signin.lexisnexis.com.
  9. ^ Isser, Steve (2015). Electricity Restructuring In the United States. Cambridge University Press. pp. 166–170.
  10. ^ Southerland, Daniel. “AES Joins Bid for Control of Brazilian Utility,” The Washington Post, May 22, 1996.
  11. ^ "IFC Home". Archived from the original on 2016-01-31. Retrieved 2016-01-21.
  12. ^ "Unknown".[permanent dead link]
  13. ^ "Uruguaiana CCGT Power Plant, Brazil". Power Technology.
  14. ^ "Ground Rubber Applications", U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Accessed May 16, 2012.
  15. ^ Shieber, Jonathan. "Guggenheim Global Infrastructure Makes Its First China Deal", Dow Jones & Company, Inc., January 06, 2012. Accessed May 16, 2012.
  16. ^ "Electricity Competition — Volume 3" (PDF). www.gpo.gov.
  17. ^ "AES plugs into CILCORP - Nov. 23, 1998".
  18. ^ Hamilton, Martha. “AES to Buy an Illinois Power Company in Big Push Into U.S. Market.” Washington Post, November 23, 1998.
  19. ^ "AES TO ACQUIRE IPALCO". 2000-07-17. Retrieved 2024-07-16.
  20. ^ Denning, Liam (5 April 2011). "Tepco's Crisis Should Power Utility Deals". Wall Street Journal.
  21. ^ Bakke, Dennis. “Joy at Work” PVG, 2006, Page 16.
  22. ^ Grose, Peter. “Power to People” Island Press, 2007.
  23. ^ Platts, S&P Global. "Finalists from 25 Countries Compete for 2016 Platts Global Energy Awards". www.prnewswire.com (Press release). Retrieved 2016-10-03.
  24. ^ Platts, S&P Global. "Energy Companies from Eight Countries Win Honors at Platts Global Energy Awards". www.prnewswire.com (Press release). Retrieved 2016-12-09.
  25. ^ "Larry Bruno Foundation". www.themagicalcoach.org. Retrieved 2017-08-05.
  26. ^ "One More Time: How do You Motivate Employees? ^ R0301F".
  27. ^ Waterman, Robert and Peters, Tom. “In Search of Excellence” HarperCollins Publishers, 1982
  28. ^ Waterman, Robert H. “What America Does Right” 1994, Chapter 2.
  29. ^ "AES Corporation: Rewriting the Rules of Management" (PDF). Retrieved 2024-07-16.
  30. ^ "Thomas A. Tribone '74, Gold Medal Award Winner".
  31. ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: Case Tribone 13. YouTube.
  32. ^ "Unknown".[permanent dead link]
  33. ^ "Duquesne University law clinic provides legal aid to veterans - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette". Archived from the original on 2013-09-25.
  34. ^ "Duquesne University Dedicates The Tribone Center for Clinical Legal Education" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2022-05-06.
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