Name: Michael Hacskaylo, retiree

Title: Staff Attorney, 1981 – 1984; Deputy General Counsel, 1984 – 1985; General Counsel, 1985 – 1998; Administrator, 1998 – 2007

Location: Lakewood, Colorado

Region: Headquarters

​When did you start working with WAPA? I started working at WAPA in August 1981 and retired January 2007.

What is the most interesting thing you have worked on at WAPA? As administrator, I would say working with the other senior managers to instill a strong customer focus in the WAPA workforce and working with a large group of WAPA employees to bring the Path 15 project online ahead of schedule and under budget. 

What do you wish people understood about your job and the work you do? As administrator, I had the constant challenge of managing WAPA as an electric utility in a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission-regulated environment while complying with laws and regulations applicable to a federal agency.

Tell us something about yourself we wouldn't find on your resume. I was a skilled auto mechanic, working on air-cooled Volkswagens while in college and law school. It helped with tuition.

How is what you do tied to WAPA's mission? WAPA's mission was to market the power generated at federal dams in our service territory at the lowest cost to consumers consistent with sound business principles, and to construct, operate and maintain transmission lines and attendant facilities. Everything I did was focused on that mission.