One would need to look far and long to find anyone more respected than Hugh Grunden and his leadership of Easton Utilities over the last four decades. Almost from the moment the Easton native returned to the Eastern Shore after graduate work at Johns Hopkins 42 years ago, Grunden began building a reputation for his professional skills in the complex world of power utility companies, but he is equally admired for the way he has built a special culture at EU based on teamwork and mutual respect for customers and employees.
Under Grunden’s direction, Easton Utilities has become a gold-standard service provider renowned for customer satisfaction, superior reliability, and fair pricing of essential services to its community. That included his leadership in bringing innovative technology to Easton through the addition of cable television in 1984 and internet service in 1998, expanding business operations, and constructing a state-of-the-art wastewater treatment facility in 2007.
But it is Grunden’s unwavering loyalty to the community that will continue to flourish at Easton Utilities after he leaves office on July 1.
The Spy sat down with Hugh two weeks ago to talk about his time at EU and his most rewarding experiences.
This video is approximately six minutes in length. For more information about Easton Utilities, please go here.
Emilie Knud-Hansen says
Easton Utilities became a standard for dedication to this community under the leadership of Bill Corkran and absolutely no one could have done a better job of taking EU to an even higher level of quality than Hugh Grunden. He is a class act and I hope his successor will be a tribute to the legacy.