Photo by Amy Carper with Carper Creative Photography | Shot on location in the Little Rock River Market
Each year, community leaders put on their dancing shoes in hopes of winning the title that is earned at the Dancing with Our Stars Gala. All this fun and friendly competition among participants benefits the Children’s Tumor Foundation and supports the Arkansas chapter’s research and mission: to end and find a cure for neurofibromatosis, a genetic disorder that disturbs cell growth in the nervous system, causing tumors to form on nerve tissue.
Leading up to the grand event, we’re putting each star in the spotlight on our blog.
Meet Nick Brown
Instructor: Monika Crissler with Dance Time with Monika
Style: Tango
Nick is the president and CEO of Southwest Power Pool, a Little Rock, Arkansas-based company that manages the electric grid and wholesale power market for the central United States. Brown also serves on the company’s board of directors and is chairman of the corporate governance committee. Nick joined the company as its seventh employee in 1985 and served in several management and engineering positions prior to his current role. He began his professional career as a planning engineer in the system planning section at Southwestern Electric Power Co.
He chose a career in in the power industry because of his fascination with electricity, which is the fundamental foundation of our society and economy. Nick received bachelors of science degrees in physics and math from Ouachita Baptist University and in electrical engineering from Louisiana Tech University. He also is a graduate of the Harvard Business School Advanced Management Program, a registered professional engineer, a master electrician and an instrument-rated private pilot.
Nick very much appreciates the support of his wife Susan in this endeavor. They are the proud parents of four children who all live and work in the Little Rock community, daughters Jaime and Lana, and sons Chesley and Nolan.
Nick and Susan are very active in the local community, volunteering their time and financial resources to numerous local charities. They’ve chaired the Opus Ball, the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra’s premier fundraising event, and Nick’s been honored by the Arkansas Foodbank for his commitment to ending hunger in Arkansas.
Anyone who has worked with Nick for very long has heard him share his belief that everyone who is capable has a responsibility to live outside themselves – to produce more than they consume and give more than they take. Nick’s participation in the Dancing with Our Stars Gala is just another example of his philosophy in action.
On Thursday, September 6th Nick will compete for the dancing title and mirror ball trophy at the gala, in addition to soliciting contributions + votes prior to the event.
