The “serial entrepreneur” Keith Maxwell, CEO of Spark Energy Gas & Electric, was named yesterday as national winner of Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year 2010 in the energy, chemicals and mining category.
Now in its 24th year, Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur of the Year encourages entrepreneurial activity and recognizes leaders and visionaries who demonstrate innovation, financial success and personal commitment as they create and build world-class businesses.
Maxwell was recognized for successfully navigating volatile markets and regulatory regimes and growing Spark Energy into an electricity and natural gas service powerhouse.
Awards were given in nine additional categories and winners were selected by an independent panel of judges from approximately 300 regional award recipients.
"Successful entrepreneurs embrace new ways of thinking about familiar problems, and have a willingness to take risks and fail," said Bryan Pearce, Americas Director, Entrepreneur of the Year, Ernst & Young LLP.
"This perfectly describes Keith Maxwell. By constantly drawing on new ideas from past experiences and taking the necessary risks to implement them, Maxwell has built Spark Energy into an industry powerhouse."
Keith Maxwell was lucky enough to work for a natural gas consulting company as soon as he graduated from college. President Ronald Reagan had just signed the Natural Gas Act that changed the rules through deregulation. According to Maxwell, it became a game-changing era where the playing field got leveled between legacy players and newcomers. The young entrepreneur gained invaluable knowledge and experience during this time.
Founding Spark Energy in 1999, Maxwell drew on knowledge gained from the de-bundling and deregulation of natural gas and applied them to power.
Believing that newer proven technology provides better ways to get work done, Maxwell used time during the recent economic downturn to modernize internal Spark operations. He invested in new technology, upgraded systems, brought in new talent and incorporated insights from outside advisors.
Leveraging advanced technology to analyze client data is critical to Maxwell's business. He feels the closer Spark Energy is to the source of knowledge — meaning how the customer behaves and pays — the easier it is to manage associated risk. He believes it is important to take time to read the data and from it, learn what customers are asking for and how to serve them.
