From the Field to the Corner Office: Leadership Lessons from Ameren Illinois

Mike Beehler P.E. is the national spokesperson for the Power Delivery Intelligence Initiative and the chief opportunity officer for Mike Beehler & Associates LLC. He started his career designing and building transmission lines and substations for Tucson Electric Power and the Hawaiian Electric Co. and then spent more than 20 years designing T&D infrastructure and consulting on emerging trends at Burns & McDonnell. He has written, presented, and consulted on reliability-centered maintenance, critical infrastructure protection, and program management.

In addition, he is a well-known industry writer and speaker on the early definition of the smart grid, 3-D and building information modeling applications in T&D, and development plans for smart cities. Most recently, he is sought for his strategic leadership and vision on the application of emerging technologies in changing business models to include the integration of distributed energy resources, augmented/virtual reality, and artificial intelligence. He authored the book, The Science of the Sale.

Beehler is a registered professional engineer in Arizona, Florida, Hawaii, Texas, Colorado, Kansas, Georgia, and Alabama. He also is a Fellow in the American Society of Civil Engineers and a member of IEEE and CIGRE.

Patrick E. Smith, Sr. is chairman and president of Ameren Illinois, where he is responsible for energy delivery to more than 1.2 million electric and more than 800,000 natural gas customers encompassing 1,200 communities across 43,700 square miles. Smith was promoted to Illinois' top position on Jan. 1, 2026.  

Smith has been with the company more than 40 years. In his previous role, as senior vice president of Operations and Technical Services, he was responsible for the oversight and support of all electric and natural gas field operations; including subtransmission and distribution maintenance, engineering design, safety and training, reliability planning, dispatch operations, electrical and natural gas emergency response, and construction services for Ameren Illinois.  

He has held various leadership positions in several areas including vice president of Economic, Community and Business Development, and vice president, Division Operations for Ameren Missouri. He joined Union Electric, now Ameren Missouri, in 1985 as a meter reader, and soon after completed a 4-year apprenticeship, leading to his promotion to journey Lineworker. Since then, Smith has worked in progressively responsible leadership roles.  

Smith is a native of East St. Louis. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in industrial and organizational psychology and an Executive MBA from Washington University. He is active in the community and passionate about youth sports. He sits on the board of the United Way of Greater St. Louis, and serves on various other committees, including the American Cancer Society's Coaches vs. Cancer efforts.

Laron Evans, Principal and Strategic Partners Director, T&D, a role in which he leads the development of small and diverse supplier engagement strategy for Burns & McDonnell’s Transmission & Distribution Group (T&D). He is responsible for fostering relationships with utilities, small & diverse businesses supporting the T&D market, and industry and community organizations. 

An electrical engineer, Laron began his career with Burns & McDonnell in 2008 as a substation engineer and has advanced rapidly in a range of project roles. Laron has been involved in the design of multiple substation projects ranging from 13-kV through 345-kV.  

Laron’s substation design experience includes protection & controls design, grounding analysis and design, AC and DC station service analysis and design, lightning protection analysis, substation equipment specifications, client and vendor coordination, engineering management, procurement and construction bid evaluations. 

He serves in a full-time capacity as minister for the Swope Parkway Church of Christ in Kansas City, Missouri, a role he has filled since 2015. In addition to his duties at the church and at Burns & McDonnell, Laron serves as the Midwest Regional Director of the American Association of Blacks in Energy (AABE) and on the board of directors for WeCode KC. 

Following graduation from Paseo Academy of Fine and Performing Arts in Kansas City, Laron enrolled at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa, graduating in 2008 with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering. He is a registered professional engineer in Iowa and Missouri. 

In his family life, Laron has been married for 12 years to Jessyca Evans, and has a 19-year-old daughter, Gabrielle Evans. He enjoys fishing, hunting, grilling, golfing, movies, exercising, critical thinking and playing the saxophone.