Michael Beckham - General Manager

Michael (Mike) Beckham is Lakeland Electric's Director. Lakeland Electric is Florida's third-largest municipal electric utility and the 24th-largest in the U.S.A. Lakeland Electric serves 142,000 customers through its transmission and distribution facilities from the utility's power generation fueled by natural gas, oil and solar power.
 
Prior to working for Lakeland Electric, Beckham held the positions of Director of Consolidated Coal Plants and Plant Manager for First Energy, where he was responsible for the business aspects of over 2000 Megawatts of coal generation.  Beckham has also held management positions in Production at Tennessee Valley Authority, Mirant and Southern Company.    
      
Beckham holds a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering Degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology and is a Registered Professional Engineer in the State of Georgia. Mike currently serves as the Vice-Chairman Board of Directors for PACE Center for Girls of Polk County.

Tory Bombard - Assistant General Manager, Production

Tory Bombard is the Assistant General Manager of Energy Production. Tory brings over 22 years of experience with Lakeland Electric, including Fuels Manager, Business Operations Manager at McIntosh Power Plant, Chief Accountant and Accountant. She is skilled in developing power production plant contracts, O&M and capital budgets and forecasting. During coal operations, she was responsible for the coal yard and combustion byproducts handling and worked with both management and UWUA personnel on power plant operations and issues. 
 
Tory has served as Chair of the Fuels Committee with the Florida Municipal Power Pool, Chair of the Eastern Fuel Buyers Group and Executive Board Member of the Florida Gas Utility. She regularly delivers updates to the Utility Committee and the City Commission concerning fuel issues, including the recent gas line relocation and operational transition to Florida Gas Transmission. She has developed many important relationships within the City of Lakeland, Lakeland Electric and other municipal and private utilities that will prove invaluable to her function as Assistant Director of Energy Production. 
 
Tory holds Bachelor of Science degrees in Accounting and Finance, and a Master of Public Administration degree, all from the University of South Florida. 
 

Korey Bush - Assistant General Manager, Customer Service

Korey Bush is the Assistant General Manager of Customer Service. He is responsible for Application Support, Customer Contact, Energy & Business Services, Field Service, Marketing & Communications, and Revenue Management. He began working at Lakeland Electric in 2003 as an Apprentice Lineman. He has held positions as Lineman, Electrician Foreman, Electric System Operator, Chief Electric System Operator, and most recently, Manager of System Operations.
 
Bush holds a bachelor's degree in Energy Management from Bismarck State College and a Master of Business Administration degree from Louisiana State University - Shreveport.

Scott Bishop- Assistant General Manager, Energy Delivery

Scott Bishop is the Assistant General Manager responsible for Energy Delivery. He was the utility’s Emerging Technology Manager responsible for planning, piloting, and deploying programs around renewable resources, electrification of transportation, energy efficiency, battery storage, and demand response solutions. Scott drove innovation and built synergies to ensure the long-term success of Lakeland Electric’s emerging energy technology projects.
 
Scott has over 20 years of experience in operations, protection and control, and technology. He has held positions as Manager of System Operations at Lakeland Electric and at Georgia Power, Advanced Control Systems. Scott has an associate degree in Mechanical Design, a bachelor’s degree in Technology Management from Clayton University, and an MBA from Columbus State University in Georgia.
 

 

 

Willem Strauss - Assistant General Manager , Fiscal Operations

Willem came to the City of Lakeland as an Accountant II in Central Accounting in December 2021. Since May 2022, he has served as Controller for Lakeland Electric. Prior to joining the City of Lakeland, Willem served as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA).  Overall, Willem has more than twenty years of experience as a Senior Accounting Manager and CFO.

Willem has a bachelor’s degree in Accounting and a bachelor’s degree in Law from the University of the Free State in South Africa. He has a master’s degree in Tax Law from the University of Cape Town in South Africa and a master’s degree in Business Administration from Bond University in Australia. He is also a Chartered Accountant (CA)SA and a member of the Florida Government Finance Officers Association (FGFOA).