Centuri Bolsters Leadership Team with Appointments of President of US Gas and Chief Commercial & Strategy Officer

PHOENIX--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug 8, 2024--

Centuri Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: CTRI) (“Centuri” or the “Company”), a leading, pure-play North American utility infrastructure services company, today highlights recent appointments for two long-time Centuri employees to newly-formed strategic roles. Dylan Hradek now serves as President, US Gas and Jim Connell assumed the role of Executive Vice President, Chief Commercial & Strategy Officer. The appointments and newly-formed leadership positions, which took effect at the end of the second quarter, further optimize the Company’s organizational structure to meet near and long-term business objectives, including charting a deliberate path to organically grow the business and streamlining operations to ensure excellence in customer service delivery.

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Dylan leads Centuri’s US Gas segment with accountability for customer operations while pursuing strategic growth opportunities across service territories and into new markets. This move aligns all US Gas operations under a further streamlined leadership structure to enable seamless, coordinated execution for existing and prospective customers. Jim is responsible for enterprise-wide commercial efforts, including the development of strategic action plans that enable growth in key geographic markets and emerging segments across electric, gas and adjacent sectors.

“Centuri is poised to play an even greater role in helping our customers meet the ever-increasing demands placed on our nation’s aging gas and electric infrastructure, supporting an increasing load demand driven by AI and new technologies, and accelerating the alternative energy transition,” said Paul Caudill, Centuri Interim President & CEO. “The appointments of Dylan and Jim come at a pivotal time as we look to expand on these opportunities with current and new customers. Both leaders bring extensive industry and customer experience that will help us continue our high standard of operational excellence and achieve our growth objectives.”

Dylan’s utility experience spans 35 years. He joined Centuri in 1999 as a foreman for NPL and prior to this appointment, was President, US Gas–Great Lakes where he successfully led NPL’s Midwest operations. Throughout Jim’s nearly 20 years with the Company, he has held several roles in leadership with a focus on customers, operations support services, and business strategy. Jim joined Centuri in 2006, most recently serving as President of Centuri Gas Group.

“These leadership moves further optimize our people and our resources by maintaining a flat organizational structure and reducing further layers in our gas operations while aiding in the delivery of enhanced value for our customers, communities, and numerous stakeholders, including our shareholders,” said Caudill.

Read Dylan Hradek and Jim Connell complete bios here.

About Centuri

Centuri Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: CTRI) is a strategic utility infrastructure services company that partners with regulated utilities to build and maintain the energy network that powers millions of homes and businesses across the United States and Canada. For more information about Centuri, visit www.Centuri.com

Dylan Hradek, President, US Gas, Centuri (Photo: Business Wire)

Jim Connell, Executive Vice President, Chief Commercial & Strategy Officer, Centuri (Photo: Business Wire)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Friday granted the Trump administration’s plea to cut hundreds of millions of dollars in teacher-training money as part of its anti-DEI efforts, while a lawsuit continues.

The justices split 5-4, with Chief Justice John Roberts joining the three liberal justices in dissent.

The cuts had been temporarily blocked by a federal judge in Boston, who found that they were already affecting training programs aimed at addressing a nationwide teacher shortage. The federal appeals court in Boston turned away an appeal from the administration to allow them to resume.

The emergency appeal is among several the high court is considering in which the Justice Department argues that lower-court judges have improperly obstructed President Donald Trump’s agenda.

U.S. District Judge Myong Joun issued a temporary restraining order sought by eight Democratic-led states that argued the cuts were likely driven by efforts from Trump’s administration to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

The Republican president also has signed an executive order calling for the dismantling of the Education Department, and his administration has already started overhauling much of its work, including cutting dozens of contracts it dismissed as “woke” and wasteful.

The two programs at issue — the Teacher Quality Partnership and Supporting Effective Educator Development — provide more than $600 million in grants for teacher preparation programs, often in subject areas such as math, science and special education, the states have argued. They said data has shown the programs had led to increased teacher retention rates and ensured that educators remain in the profession beyond five years.

Despite Joun's finding that the programs already were being affected, the high court's conservative majority wrote that the states can keep the programs running with their own money for now. By contrast, the majority said in an unsigned opinion, the federal government probably wouldn’t be able to recover the cash if it ultimately wins the lawsuit.

Justice Elena Kagan wrote in dissent that there was no reason for the court's emergency intervention.

“Nowhere in its papers does the Government defend the legality of canceling the education grants at issue here,” Kagan wrote.

The administration halted the programs without notice in February. Joun, an appointee of Democratic President Joe Biden, found that the cancellations probably violated a federal law that requires a clear explanation.

The appellate panel that rejected the administration’s request for a stay also was made up of judges appointed by Democrats.

California is leading the ongoing lawsuit, joined by Massachusetts, New Jersey, Colorado, Illinois, Maryland, New York and Wisconsin.

FILE - Secretary of Education Linda McMahon speaks to reporters at the White House in Washington, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis, File)

U.S. President Donald Trump holds up a signed executive order as youths hold up copies of the executive order they signed at an education event in the East Room of the White House in Washington, March 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

FILE - Students help put away supplies at the end of a reading and writing lesson at the Head Start program run by Easterseals, an organization that gets about a third of its funding from the federal government, Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025, in Miami. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell, File)