Phil Croskey of MD Energy Advisors: ‘Diverse Team = Diverse Perspectives, Experiences, Approaches.’

Be comfortable with being uncomfortable. People tend to hire people who are like them, be intentional in going outside your comfort zone when hiring and promoting.

I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Phil Croskey.

Phil brings more than 20 years of executive and managerial experience to his roles as CEO and co-founder of MD Energy Advisors. He is responsible for overall strategic direction and revenue growth and acts as chief communicator for the energy solutions company.

In 2010, Phil also co-founded PointClickSwitch, a proprietary online platform powered by MD Energy Advisors that helps residential customers in deregulated energy markets save on utility costs though comparison shopping. He is deeply passionate about entrepreneurship and mentors many on how to pursue starting a business.

Prior to starting MD Energy Advisors and PointClickSwitch, Phil was director of real estate development at the Baltimore Development Corporation (BDC) where he was responsible for projects totaling more than $3 billion for the City of Baltimore. Before joining BDC, Phil was a member of the management team at MBNA America (now Bank of America) with roles in marketing, sales, finance and risk mitigation.

He has been named one of The Daily Record’s 2018 Most Admired CEO winners and one of the Baltimore Business Journal’s Top 40 Under 40 (2013). In 2018, Phil was selected to participate in The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) African American Emerging Leader delegation to Israel.

Deeply committed to service, Phil serves on numerous boards including American Association of Blacks in Energy (AABE) Baltimore Chapter, Clean Air Partners and Urban Teachers. The Cleveland native holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management from Morgan State University.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

Prior to co-founding MD Energy Advisors, I had a career in corporate America and government and while I learned a lot from each of these opportunities both left me unfulfilled (professionally and financially).

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

While working for the local government, I started a non-profit that at the time was responsible for the largest urban renewal effort in the country. My responsibilities were split between my 9–5 for the local government and starting this non-profit. The organization grew to a point where they needed full-time focus…so having started the organization I just knew I was guaranteed the full-time Executive Director role. Let’s just say I didn’t get the position and within a few months MD Energy Advisors was born.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

What’s funny is that together with my partners, Paul Clary and Jason Schwartzberg, I started two energy companies, first PointClickSwitch and then MD Energy Advisors, and did not have any background in energy. Early on there were many meetings in which we did not understand the jargon that was being used but we faked it to make it. We learned a lot, including that Google University is a great resource for anything you want to learn.

Can you share three reasons with our readers about why it’s really important for a business to have a diverse executive team?

Diverse team = diverse perspectives, experiences, approaches.

More broadly can you describe how this can have an effect on our culture?

We take enormous pride in our team’s diversity…what we have found is that our diversity has been a key recruitment tool for talent. Prospective candidates would visit our site and be intrigued by MD Energy Advisors based on the rich mosaic of our team. (See for yourself: Meet the Team | MD Energy Advisors).

Can you recommend three things the community/society/the industry can do help address the root of the diversity issues in executive leadership?

1. Be comfortable with being uncomfortable. People tend to hire people who are like them, be intentional in going outside your comfort zone when hiring and promoting.

2. When possible don’t hire based on the resume. There’s a ton of untapped potential that has just not been given the opportunity or had to the opportunity to go to “The Right School”.

3. Always ask yourself the question…does my team represent the community in which I do business in?

How do you define “Leadership”? Can you explain what you mean or give an example?

Leadership is all about caring for your people. Helping them “Win in life so they can win at work.” Your 9–5 is just one aspect of this thing called life, but how as employers can you create an environment that invests in the well-being of your employees?

What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started” and why. Please share a story or example for each.

1. Growing a business takes time, there are no overnight successes.

2. Your presentation (website, marketing material, presentation decks) matters.

3. You can “Ball on a Budget” you don’t have to throw money at every problem.

4. Hire slow…fire fast. Early on talent that you can afford is difficult to find. Take your time to make sure new hires are good fits.

5. Scale/grow responsibly.

You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

A movement focused on growing and scaling minority businesses. According to Brookings, there are 5.7 million businesses with 1 or more employees however only 134,567 or 2.3% of those businesses were black owned. We have to encourage entrepreneurship as a path for our youth.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

“Opportunities are missed by most because it’s dressed in overalls and looks like work.” — Thomas Edison

If we never put in the work, I never would have started a company with my partners in an industry that none of us had any experience in.

Is there a person in the world, or in the US whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. :-)

Robert F. Smith of Vista Equities.

How can our readers follow you on social media?

Follow @MD Energy Advisors on LinkedIn.

This was very meaningful, thank you so much!

About the Interviewer: Jilea Hemmings is a staunch believer in the power of entrepreneurship. A successful career revamping Fortune 500 companies was not enough for her entrepreneurial spirit, so Jilea began focusing her passion in startups. She has successfully built 6 startups to date. Her passion for entrepreneurship continues to flourish with the development of Stretchy Hair Care, focusing on relieving the pain associated with detangling and styling natural black hair. For far too long, people with tender heads have suffered in pain. Until now.