On
December 4, 2001, the day Enron filed for bankruptcy and laid
off 4,500 employees, John Elder was having lunch with some of
Houston's top business executives. "The conclusion was that
the most valuable thing at Enron was the employees," Elder
says. "We feared Houston would lose major talent, and we
wanted to keep these people working in Houston."
So Elder, a principal at Devine & Christopher, a
recruitment firm that specializes in the power industry; Mark
Slaughter, a private investor and former president and CEO of
Reliant Energy Communications; Dan Sudduth, CFO for
RoadShowMedia.com and Teligistics; Randy Stilley, a private
investor and ex-president of Weatherford International's
completion and oil-field services division; and Barry
Smotherman, managing partner of Tatum CFO, came up with a plan
to help talented former Enron employees get their businesses
up and running. The executives started a nonprofit incubator
called Resource Alliance Group, a temporary venture showing
former Enron employees the ins and outs of running a business.
Within just three months, the group helped 25 ex-Enron
employees become entrepreneurs, according to Elder.
Getting Help
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Resource
Alliance Group's first success was Mobius Risk Management, a
company that helps large businesses cut energy bills by
replacing light bulbs and by scouring the marketplace for
low-cost electricity and natural gas contracts. Mobius is
headed by two former Enron executives who worked at the
company's retail energy services division. Elder says Resource
Alliance provided Mobius with mentoring services from
experienced business executives, business plan review and
development, access to funding sources and office space.
Eric Melvin, Mobius' 39-year-old CEO, says his firm has
turned a profit of just under $1 million since opening in
March and was hired to evaluate the energy consumption of
Harrah's Entertainment, which operates 25 casinos nationwide.
Mobius, which started with three employees, now has a staff of
10.
Resource Alliance Group fulfilled its mission and shut down
in October, says Elder. But Elder still mentors former Enron
employees looking to start businesses.
