Marine vet learns from her past, looks to the future

Tara Guenther, Senior Field Leader at Consumers Energy Freedom Compressor Station

Tara Guenther was raised in Dexter — a place that was once much more like Manchester than it is today — on a dairy farm, with cows, goats, pigs, and chickens. She's come the proverbial "long way" in a relatively short period of time, and without straying too far from her rural roots.

"I feel incredibly lucky to have had a childhood like the one I had," she says. "We were not financially well off, but the experiences and life lessons were priceless. I spent many hours in the milking parlor, in the combine, and just getting dirty. I have some very fond memories of going to the Manchester livestock auction right down the road from the Freedom Compressor Station with my dad."

When Tara came home from the Marines in 2006, her dad gave her five acres to build a house. Outside of her five "short" years in the Marine Corps, Dexter and the farm have remained her home.

"I’m very happy to be able to raise my children in such a great community," she says. "I am a single mom of two children, Nylah, 16, and Mason, 9. My daughter has been my support while I was completing my schooling, helping me with her brother."

Tara received a B.S. in Management from the University of Phoenix in 2013, and holds her Green Belt in Lean Six Sigma from the University of Michigan. Currently, she's enrolled at Spring Arbor University completing her MBA in Executive Leadership, which she will complete on Mother’s Day.

"Our lives are very busy with work and school but when we have time, we enjoy four wheeling, bonfires, and our favorite is being on the boat," Tara relates. "We have a cabin in Atlanta, MI we try to escape to as much as possible."

Joining Consumers Energy in November 2006 just six months after her honorable discharge from the Marine Corps, Tara has held many positions in the company.

"One great thing I love about Consumers is the ability to move to different roles and gain new experience," she says. "I was hired in as a material handler for the Electric Substation & Design group in the Engineering Department. Since that position I have continually taken on more responsibility working in our Planning and Scheduling, Electric Operations, Customer Operations, and now Generation and Compression Operations departments.

"When the opportunity to be part of the implementation of a brand new compressor station was presented to me, I couldn’t say no," she adds. "I started at Freedom in July 2020 and had a huge learning curve. I have tapped into many of the leadership skills I obtained as a Sergeant of Marines and have applied them to this position."

Through her experience at Consumers, Tara says she has learned that her strengths include empowering people, being an analytical thinker, accountability, and being a firm but caring leader. "My personal strengths and the leadership skills I’ve learned over the years brought me to Freedom and I’m really excited to see what we accomplish together," she says.

With the many improvements that have been made at the Freedom Compressor Station over the past couple of years, and the recent announcement that Consumers will also be installing an emergency warning siren at the station in conjunction with Washtenaw County Emergency Management, Tara has been instrumental in making many of these proposals a reality, as part of the management team at Freedom. She credits that team, along with the County EMS representative, for helping develop and implement this important safety standard.

"Most of the credit must go to John Broschak, vice president of generation operations and compression at Consumers Energy," she says. "He proposed the idea to a group of us closest to the decision and asked our thoughts.

"Logistically, we wanted to make sure the siren didn’t create confusion, so we leveraged Dave Halteman, Washtenaw County Emergency Management representative, to help us walk through what the operation should look like. There was never a question about wanting to do the right thing for the residents of Freedom Township. But we needed to work through scenarios to ensure we were providing the right solution to the residents."

Tara concludes by saying that the motto, “World class performance delivering hometown service” is not simply a cliché at Consumers. "It really is embedded in all our decision making. We had an opportunity to fill a gap for some of our Freedom residents, so we took advantage of it."

If COVID-19 protocol allows, the Consumers Energy Freedom Compressor station hopes to host an open house and tour later this year. At that time, local residents will get a chance to meet Tara and the rest of her power team and feel more at ease about the new safety standards that are being implemented to protect Freedom residents and others in the area.

For as little as $1 a month, you can keep Manchester-focused news coverage alive.

by Marsha Chartrand

Marsha Johnson Chartrand, a founder, writer, and copy editor with the Manchester Mirror, is a 50-year resident of Manchester. She has a long history of volunteer and community involvement.