Back in 1973, fresh out of earning a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Emporia State Teacher’s College, Willis managed an auto parts store in Willis, Kansas, a small town in the northeast part of the state named for his great-great-grandfather. Next door to the auto parts store was a gas service company. One day an employee asked Willis if he was interested in going to work for that gas company. “I had never heard of them,” he said.

Cities Service Gas Company had an opening in the Hiawatha area about eight miles from his house, but that was the last time he lived in the area. “They told me after six months of training,   I’d probably move back home. I never have gotten back there,” he said.

Even though it was a small town (“the population was 110 at most”), Willis said it was tough to leave the area where he grew up, working on his grandfather’s farm.

Career
He started out as a repairman in the Lawrence pipeline division, moved to the Tonganoxie compressor station as an oiler repairman and then went back to Lawrence, where he became a field clerk. In 1984, he transferred to Lyons in the same role before he became a district administrative coordinator. In 1991, he transferred to Wichita to take over coordination for the meter shop, where they eventually also moved pipes, dials and fittings.

After a tornado destroyed the building in 1999 (this is Kansas, after all), the meter shop was relocated to Hesston, where Willis has been ever since.

“People don’t understand how important he is to the organization as a whole.”

In his current role, Willis works in the technical resource center, testing and certifying meters and electronic gauges and thermometers. He orders and receives material and inventory and ships as needed for measurement, corrosion, mechanical and communications departments. He also works with Strategic Sourcing to track pipe valves and fittings in the system warehouse.

“I’ve always enjoyed whatever work I was assigned to,” he said. “I’ve always been a plus and minus person … I had quite a bit of accounting. It just kind of fell into place.”

“I enjoy the people, that’s the main thing,” he said. “I’ve made a lot of good friends, and I still enjoy talking to the various people.”

“He gets along well with everybody,” said Belinda Bell, Manager, Measurement Services. “He does a great job with the measurement group. He knows that meter shop forwards and backwards.”

Willis is also a tremendous example of safety – in 40 years on the job, he has not committed even one safety violation. “Just try to be aware of what your surroundings are, keep ahead of the game if you can,” he said about his approach to safety. “Any type of injury is detrimental to the individual or the company.”

Southern Star’s monthly safety modules and meetings, as well as the driving training, have also helped, he said.

Family and Memories

[From left, Stan's daughter-in-law, oldest son, grandson, Stan, oldest grandson, oldest granddaughter, youngest granddaughter, wife and daughter.]

While stationed in Lyons, Willis met and married his wife Terry, who already had three children. They had another child together, and now have five grandchildren, who enjoy being spoiled by their grandparents. Willis lives in El Dorado, about thirty miles from Wichita, where two of his children live. Another lives in Topeka, and he and his wife lost one daughter at 23.

 When the company had surplus workers in the summer in the ’70s, they went to field locations to help overhaul engines, Willis said. He did that job in Edmond, Oklahoma, and Ulysses, Kansas, before heading to Rawlins, Wyoming, in 1979 to help build the Rawlins-Hesston line. He worked on the western 20-mile section, a job he still ranks as one of his biggest accomplishments with the company. “It was very educational,” he said. “That’s what got me into the material side of the company.” [Image right: 1970s construction on the Rawlins-Hesston line as it crosses Arlington Mountain.]

He also remembers when the company first got computers in the mid-80s and even likes to recall many of the smaller jobs he was involved with. “I think back to the pipeline gang at Lawrence,” he said. “We used to go out and do a lot of our own replacements. We`d replace pipe across the creek, around the pond …”

When he hadn’t worked for the company long, he got put on a dozer, was given a one-time lesson and was turned loose. “I came from a farm background,” he said, “(so) it wasn’t terribly hard.”
 
In 40 years, Willis has seen company philosophies change – and then often change again, going full circle. “There’s nothing new, just a little different way of looking at it,” he said.

Free Time
When he’s not ordering valves or moving pipelines, Willis likes to play some golf (“I’m not very good, but I enjoy playing”), do a little fishing at the lake 10 minutes from his house and watch old westerns – mostly, anything with John Wayne. He hangs out with his grandkids and his daughter has turned him into a hockey fan as they take in Wichita Thunder games together. He’s thinking about retirement within the next few years, but isn’t quite ready yet.

When he does retire, he won’t miss the dog days of coating lines by hand. “Back in the ’70s, doing pipeline work, to coat the line, we used hot dope, just a tar, all applied by hand,” he said. “(You would take) felt paper, hold it close to the bottom of the pipe, dump hot dope on top of the pipe and move the felt back and forth to make sure you got it coated. The smoke and the smell from that stuff, if you were in it all day long, would almost bake your face. That was one of the toughest jobs.”

Thankfully, men like Stan Willis endured those long, hot days to make Southern Star into the company it is today. “He’s a wealth of knowledge,” Bell said. “People don’t understand how important he is to the organization as a whole.”

His advice to the next generation? “Take advantage of what the company has to offer as far as training, classroom work and on-the-job training,” he said. “It’s pretty diversified. There are lots of opportunities. If you find one, go for it.”

Southern Star recently launched a new mobile version of our external corporate website, http://www.sscgp.com/. The mobile site features a responsive design that extends the look and feel of the site’s desktop version to mobile devices, including phones and tablets.
 
To view the site on your phone or tablet, type the normal address, http://www.sscgp.com/, into your browser. The responsive design automatically adjusts the display to the size of your screen. This means viewers can easily see photos and read content without constantly squinting or resizing the screen.
 
The mobile site is compatible with all devices, including Blackberries, iPhones, Android phones, iPads, Kindles, etc. It includes all content on the full site and automatically updates with new content when the full site is updated. Users can navigate the site through a dropdown “Menu” button in the upper right-hand corner. The Southern Star 24-Hour Emergency Line is also included at the bottom of every page for quick access if needed.
 
Below are screenshots of the home page on an iPhone screen, a tablet-sized screen and the full site:

 

To celebrate National Safe Digging Month 2013, Southern Star is running two contests for schools located in the areas around our pipelines. The National Safe Digging Month Essay Contest for high school juniors and seniors offers a $1,000 scholarship to the winning essay, while the National Safe Digging Month Coloring Contest offers $100, $75 and $50 prizes to the top three coloring sheets from Grades 1-8.

Rules

Coloring Contest

• Entrants for the coloring contest must be between grades 1-8, and the student must attend an elementary school that is located in a Southern Star Central Gas Pipeline facility area. You can see a list of eligible schools here.
• Watch the 7-minute CGA “811 Children’s Pirate Video” that teaches the children the importance of calling before you dig. Then print off the appropriate level coloring sheets below that pertain to the video. The coloring sheets will be judged based on their overall appearance and neatness. Each contestant may submit only one entry.
• Entrants must complete the official entry form and mail or email it along with the coloring sheet.  Please do not staple the entry form to the coloring sheet.
• Deadline for entries: Coloring Sheets and Entry Forms may be submitted to Southern Star Central Gas Pipeline, Inc., 4700 Highway 56, Owensboro, KY 42301, Attn: 2013 Coloring Contest, or you can scan the page and email with the Entry Form to PublicAwareness@sscgp.com with “2013 Coloring Contest” in the subject line. All entries must be postmarked or emailed no later than Tuesday, April 30, 2013.
• 1st ($100), 2nd ($75), and 3rd ($50) place prizes will be awarded in June 2013 by mail.

Coloring Contest Rules and Entry Form
K-2 Coloring Sheet
Grade 3-5 Coloring Sheet
Grade 6-8 Coloring Sheet

Essay Contest

• Must be a current high school junior or senior at a school in a Southern Star Central Gas Pipeline facility area. You can see a list of eligible schools here.
• Must be enrolled or expected to be enrolled in an undergraduate program in the United States by the fall of 2014.
• Must have a GPA of at least a 2.75 or greater of your senior year of high school. You must be able to provide a transcript to Southern Star for verification upon request.
• Watch “Red’s 5 Steps to Safer Digging” and develop an essay based on the video’s message. We want to see that you understand the “safe digging” message and its importance to your safety and the safety to others. (Red’s 5 Steps to Safer Digging was produced by the CGA to promote the importance of damage prevention and calling 811 before you dig.)
• Each student may submit one (1) essay. Essays must be 300-400 words in English typed on the essay template below in 12-point, Times New Roman font. They must be originally authored by the student. Any form of plagiarism will result in disqualification.
• Essays will be judged by a group of Southern Star employees. The decisions of the judges will be final.
• Entries must be postmarked by Tuesday, April 30, 2013.

Essay Contest Rules and Entry Form
Essay Template

Click the links below for more information:

Evidence of Interest Shidler Line ME Offering (PDF)

Confidentiality Agreement (PDF)

For more information, call Robbie Clark in Business Development at 270-852-4577.

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For a list of pipeline operators with pipelines in your area and their contact information, go to www.npms.phmsa.dot.gov. The NPMS should only be used for general pipeline overviews and should never be used as a replacement for calling 811 and having the utility companies mark the lines.

The Straight Blackwell Expansion will involve expanding the capacity of Southern Star’s system beginning in Texas County, Oklahoma, along the Straight Blackwell Line (Line Segment 315) extending east to its Blackwell Compressor Station, located in Kay County, Oklahoma. This proposed expansion will serve the growing western Oklahoma production corridor including the Granite Wash, Cleveland/Tonkawa and Mississippi Lime areas with access to markets in Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri as well as access to other intrastate and interstate pipelines.

Southern Star invites parties interested in firm transportation capacity on the Straight Blackwell Expansion Project to submit bids by 5 p.m. CST on December 7, 2012.

The binding bid(s) received during this Open Season will assist Southern Star in determining whether to pursue the proposed expansion and in defining the final parameters of such expansion. If it decides to move forward after evaluating the binding bids, Southern Star will, subject to FERC approval, install the necessary facilities to serve all or a portion of the requested capacity. If a Binding Open Season is successful, Southern Star anticipates service provided through the proposed expansion to begin October 1, 2013.

Additional information regarding the project may be obtained by contacting Philip Rullman at (270) 852-4440, Jim Neukam at (270) 852-4665, Pat Coomes at (270) 852-4552, Robbie Clark at (270)-852-4577, or Dale Sanders at (270) 852-4666. Interested parties may access Open Season information at: http://csi.sscgp.com/ under the “Open Season” tab in the Informational Postings on CSI.

About Southern Star Central Gas Pipeline
Southern Star Central Gas Pipeline, Inc. is an interstate natural gas transmission system headquartered in Owensboro, KY, and spanning approximately 6,000 miles in the Midwest and mid-continent regions of the United States. Southern Star’s pipeline facilities are located throughout Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Missouri, Wyoming, Colorado and Texas. It serves metropolitan areas in Missouri (Kansas City, St. Louis, Springfield, St. Joseph and Joplin), Kansas (Wichita, Kansas City, Topeka and Lawrence) and Oklahoma (Oklahoma City). For additional information about Southern Star, please visit www.sscgp.com.

Straight Blackwell Expansion Open Season Press Release

Straight Blackwell Expansion Open Season Posting and Precedent Agreement

Ten years ago, a little show called American Idol was making its debut. Enron had been the darling of Wall Street and the energy industry, but had just filed Chapter 11 Bankruptcy. The big social networking story was Friendster with a whopping three million users. Less than 600 million people were online globally, a number fewer than Facebook users alone in 2012. Blackberries were just really beginning to take a foothold in the mobile communications market. Ten days after Southern Star was born, the Department of Homeland Security was created in response to September 11. The average wellhead price of natural gas, per Mcf, was $3.59 – not too far off from what it is today.

A Look Back

Highlights and challenges from Southern Star’s first 10 years include the following:

• As of November 1, 2012, exactly 50 percent of all current Southern Star employees have joined the Company since November 15, 2002.
• We have had steadily increasing customer satisfaction results and multiple times have been ranked # 1 among our peer group nationally for customer satisfaction.
• We had a period of no lost time accidents from September 2004 through January 2008.
• We opened a brand new corporate headquarters building in 2004.
• We have had some nice expansions of our business:

- Southwest Missouri Expansion in 2003
- Interconnect with Cheyenne Plains in 2005
- Ozark Trails Expansion in 2006
- Building of the Waynoka lateral in Oklahoma in 2007
- Incremental service to Atmos in Olathe in 2007
- New service to Prairie Pride biodiesel in 2007
- New service to Show Me Ethanol and Kansas Ethanol in 2008
- New lateral to Westar power generation facility in Emporia in 2008
- New lateral to Midwest Energy in Hays in 2008
- Incremental service to KGS in Wichita in 2008
- Sedalia expansion to serve Dogwood generation in 2009
- Service to Branson, Missouri in 2010
- Expansion of Elk City Storage capacity in April, 2011

• In 2004, we implemented our Customer Service Innovation electronic platform for transacting business with our customers. This was the first significant upgrade of our “electronic bulletin board” and related systems in about twenty years.
• We issued public debt, become an SEC registrant, and are fully compliant with the requirements of Sarbanes-Oxley. We have earned and maintained an investment grade rating from both Moody’s and Standard & Poors.
• We have implemented Learning and Planning initiatives such as Southern Star University.
• We have managed through several ownership changes without significant business disruption
• The world of pipeline safety, integrity and compliance has changed dramatically, and the Company has adjusted its structure and processes to keep up with and lead efforts to improve the safety and reliability of pipeline systems across North America.
• We have endured the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, maintained our business, avoided significant layoffs, and maintained competitive salaries and benefits.
• We have grown the earnings of the Company. This is the best way to help assure the stability and future of the Company and us as employees.

We have also had our challenges in the first decade, to be sure. We have learned much as we have matured and improved many processes and procedures. We have endured through the Joplin tornado in 2011 and other similar hardships. Through it all, employees have shown remarkable perseverance and resiliency. The employees, who are the heart of the Company, also demonstrate every day a strong drive to help others in and around the communities where we live and work, and beyond.

What about the Future?

As history has proven, no one has a foolproof crystal ball. Five years ago, most experts were predicting significant importing of LNG to the U.S. in order to balance supply with demand. Now, we have terminals that will soon be exporting LNG. But, here are some things that you might see in the next 10 years or so:

• Natural gas supplies continuing to grow nationwide and taking on greater significance in our national energy strategy
• Natural gas as a major transportation fuel for certain vehicle applications
• Natural gas will be the fuel that generates most of the electricity in the U.S.
• The remaining 50 percent of Southern Star’s workforce may turn over
• Southern Star accesses new supply sources in and around our region
• Southern Star expands its storage capabilities
• Southern Star grows its footprint with organic projects, acquisitions and partnerships
• In 2013, Southern Star will dedicate a new multi-purpose Employee Excellence Center in Owensboro, that will house a state-of-the-art Disaster Recovery Center, Records Management Facilities for a vast majority of all of the Company records, computer labs, training and meeting facilities that will be available to all employees.
• A significant number of employees might “telecommute” or at least have the tools and capability to work from anywhere at almost anytime
• Southern Star will have a new owner (again)

The first 10 years of Southern Star as a standalone entity have been challenging and exciting. With guiding principles that include integrity, teamwork, communication, pride and service, we need to learn from our past, but keep our eyes forward on progressing into the future.

One thing is certain: our environment will not stand still or go backwards.  We look forward to a bright future for Southern Star as we keep moving forward in our vision to become “The Best Pipeline in North America.”

Jerry Morris
President and CEO

“We cannot become what we need to be by remaining what we are” — Max Depree

“Thumbs up for Lane” was started to show support for Lane and has caught on like wildfire, with friends, family, businesses, perfect strangers, famous actors, musicians, athletes and politicians all sending in photos with their thumbs up for Lane. You can see the outpouring of photos and prayers at www.facebook.com/prayersforlanegoodwin. The page has received more than 200,000 “Likes” so far.

Southern Star joined in by taking an employee photo around our sign with our thumbs held high. Please join us in supporting and praying for Lane and the entire Goodwin family!