Joe Gehrdes is the Director of External Affairs for Huntsville Utilities and joined the team in 2011 as the company’s first Governmental Affairs Manager. Since then, his role has grown into oversight of community and public relations, marketing, communications, media relations, and governmental and regulatory affairs. He spent the previous 10+ years as the Governmental Affairs Liaison at the Huntsville / Madison County Builders Association, advocating for affordable housing and residential construction.

Joe currently serves as the 2023-2024 Board Chair for the Southeast Energy Efficiency Alliance, the Chair of the Utility Communicators International Board of Directors, the Board of Management Chair for the Southeast Huntsville YMCA, and is on the Board of the South Huntsville Main Business Association. He lives in south Huntsville with his wife of 18 years, Brandi, and his three sons: Harris, Henry, and Adam.

HU provides service to more than 221,000 electric, 108,000 water, and 63,000 natural gas customers in Huntsville and Madison County, Alabama. HU has also constructed a city-wide fiber-optic infrastructure used by Google Fiber and others to provide high-speed telecommunication services to the community.