Founder and Lead Instructor, Skip Collier
To say that Skip has highly unique expertise is an understatement. His experience in power generation, distribution and utility systems turned into a professional training course more than 40 years ago. That course became so popular it was attended by thousands of people across the U.S. and Canada, making it the most taken course of its kind in the industry.

Skip’s inclusion and discussion formats have allowed for 40+ years of utility system Q&A, keeping PTS class content on the cutting edge. The courses are unique and highly rated for a reason.

Skip’s Background
Skip has a B.S. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Nevada in Reno, and an MBA degree from Portland State University. He also served in the U.S. Army as an assistant engineer at Fort Huachuca in Arizona.

He worked as an electrical engineer for the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), the federal utility that owns and operates 90% of the transmission system in the Pacific Northwest. BPA is one of the two most technically advanced electric utilities in North America with the other being the Tennessee Valley Authority.

He also worked for 12 years as a field engineer, supervisor and construction project manager at General Electric Company, the largest manufacturer of power generating equipment in the world. Working at GE provided Skip with a highly unique experience in that Skip worked at the intersection of all equipment and systems used to bring generating power online and getting that power distributed to customers.

One of Skip's roles was a generator start-up engineer with the responsibility of making sure all systems were cleared for checkout with new generating plants. This included connecting the generator to the system for the first time and verifying that all electrical systems were functioning correctly. As an integral part of this testing, Skip coordinated with all system operators. His role required depth of interaction with generator operators and system operators at the same time, making Skip uniquely qualified to address the facets of power production and distribution and how all personnel can benefit from a greater understanding for how the systems work. It’s a truly unique expertise Skip brings to everyone.

Not Just an Engineer and Atomic Energy
Prior to developing electrical utility training courses, Skip also taught part time college courses at Portland Community College and Portland State University. These courses included emerging fields in programming as well as classes on business economics. His teaching experience combined with the ongoing engineering and electric utility experience were a catalyst to creating one of the industry’s most valued utility training courses.

But Skip’s power story goes back a little further than that. He wanted to be an engineer since the age of 12. He was born in Nevada and his dad was a generator operator at a co-generation plant. Skip’s dad later became the shift supervisor and plant chemist so Skip was exposed to electric utility operations and power generation from childhood and is a second generation power professional.

In fact, Skip’s exposure to energy and power production goes back further than most. His dad pulled Skip and his sister out of bed at 5AM one morning to see the sky light up from one of the above ground atom bomb detonations taking place in Nevada. Skip’s future has been shaped by energy production from a very early age.

What Skip brings to PTS’ professional education courses is a lifelong fascination with energy, electricity and power production mixed with a wealth of literal hands-on experience and then combined with the interactions of thousands of utility personnel. It is a truly unique blend of knowledge and experience that he imparts to everyone through PTS’ content and courses.