Four Decades of Leadership

From Tom Vivian’s perspective, in his 41 years at NorthWestern Energy, there wasn’t a single project he accomplished on his own.

“I can’t think of one single thing that I can say, ‘I did that.’ It was, ‘We did that,’” Tom said. “We worked as a team with work ethic and loyalty to one another.”

Tom retired in February as NorthWestern’s Director of Gas Transmission and Storage. At his retirement party, Mike Cashell, Vice President – Transmission, presented him with a special surprise – the gas transmission control center will now be known as The Tom Vivian Gas Transmission Control Center, marked with a plaque outside the door.

“First I was stunned,” Tom said about the surprise. “Then, I was like, why me? There are so many incredible people in the company and in gas transmission.”

“It was flattering and humbling at the same time,” he added. “I don’t think of this as my award but ours for everyone in gas transmission.”

From Mike’s perspective, Tom left a lasting mark on the company during his 41 years of service, and much of that was due to Tom’s leadership abilities. Mike is also not surprised that Tom views the award as being “for everyone in gas transmission.”

“That is one of Tom’s most valuable beliefs: the effectiveness and value of teamwork,” Mike said. “There is not a challenge or problem related to our business that Tom, and his great team, can’t solve, normally done by gathering members of his team to brainstorm, encourage creativity and to plan solutions.”

Crews working to build the Butte to Morel gas transmission line.

During his career, Tom worked almost everywhere within Gas Trans- mission and Storage and was involved in every aspect of the division, including operations, maintenance, control room activity and capital work.

Tom Vivian, far left, poses with other gas transmission employees in the mid-2000s.

Tom joined the company in 1982, fresh out of college with a petroleum engineering degree from Montana Tech. His first position was in Butte, and soon after he moved to Cut Bank to work as a field engineer. Tom jokes he spent three years, three months and three days in Cut Bank, a small town in northern Montana with a population of about 3,300 in 1985.

“Actually, Cut Bank was a wonderful town, and the work was fun,” he said. “I learned a ton about the gas department and what makes it tick.”

After his stint in Cut Bank, Tom returned to Butte to work in gas measurement, keeping track of where natural gas is coming from and going to.

From 1989 to about 2000, Tom worked to implement our new supervisory control and data acquisition, or SCADA, system, which upgraded natural gas controls to be a system that could be operated from a central location rather than being manually controlled.

“Arguably, that was one of the best things I did,” Tom said.

Before you can hook things up to be controlled and monitored, you have to have a deep understanding of how they work, Tom explained.

“I learned a lot about how the system functions,” he said.

Tom became Manager of Operations and then Director of Gas Transmission and Storage.

“Tom is one of the most technically competent engineers that I have worked with in my nearly 37 years in the electric and gas utility industry,” Mike said. “Tom is the special type of person that combines his competency with extremely effective leadership skills, natural teaching ability, compassion for people and passion for his job.”

Mike Cashell, Vice President – Transmission, presents Tom Vivian with a plaque renaming NorthWestern Energy’s gas transmission control center as the The Tom Vivian Gas Transmission Control Center.

For Tom, his 41 years at NorthWestern flew by.

“That’s what happens when you like what you do and you like the people you work with,” he said.

Tom’s favorite thing about his job was his co-workers and mentors, who worked together as a tight-knit team.

“People couldn’t wait to teach you what they knew,” he said. “We all supported one another. If you’re falling down, we’re going to pick you up.”

Tom has deep roots at NorthWestern. Tom’s grandfather Mel Vivian and father, Bob Vivian, were Montana Power employees. Tom’s son Rob Vivian is an engineer with NorthWestern Energy, and his son in-law Brian Berger is a gas transmission technician, meaning four generations of the Vivian family have served our customers.

Now in his retirement, Tom is focusing on the next generation of potential NorthWestern employees. For the next three or four years, he’ll be spending lots time with his seven grand kids, helping with daycare while their parents are at work. After that, he plans to travel the country with his wife, Sandy.