Craig Dean

Craig Dean, who went by “Clint Dean” at Enron, was a power scheduler and trader who served as the primary coordinator for Enron’s ERCOT (Electric Reliability Council of Texas) operations from 2000 to 2001. Working out of Enron’s Houston headquarters, Dean managed plant scheduling for the Austin Sandhill generation facility and handled wholesale electricity transactions in the deregulated Texas power market. Before joining Enron, he worked as an auditor at Ernst & Young in the Dallas area, where he used the name Craig J. Dean.

Dean’s email archive contains 2,100 messages spanning April 2000 to November 2002, with substantive activity concentrated in the eighteen-month period from May 2000 through November 2001. The archive provides a detailed view of daily operations in Enron’s Texas power trading business, including coordination with ERCOT personnel, plant operators, and municipal utility counterparties.

Career Background

Ernst & Young

Prior to joining Enron, Dean worked as an auditor at Ernst & Young LLP in the Southwest region. His position was based in the Dallas area, and email evidence indicates he remained connected with former colleagues including Randy A. Hyzak, Ryan Shultz, Bill L. Browning, Michael E. Coonce, and Jason A. Claro. His last documented activity at Ernst & Young was in August 2000, when he was still forwarding emails to his Enron address during the transition period. The shift from public accounting to energy trading represented a significant career pivot, moving from audit work to the fast-paced world of wholesale power markets.

Enron Corp (2000-2002)

Dean joined Enron approximately April-May 2000. Email records from October 2000 reference vacation balance adjustments and employee service center corrections, consistent with the administrative cleanup typical of recent external hires. He was assigned to the ERCOT trading desk within Enron Wholesale Services, working from office EB 3823 in Houston. In September 2001, Dean received a Special Stock Option Grant Award, indicating satisfactory performance reviews during his tenure.

Role at Enron

Primary Responsibilities

Dean served as the main scheduler and coordinator for Enron’s ERCOT power operations. An internal email from May 14, 2001 explicitly identified him as the “Main Contact” for “calling and scheduling Enron’s output from Sandhill,” establishing his central role in plant coordination. His responsibilities encompassed three primary areas.

Plant scheduling formed the core of Dean’s work. He served as the primary contact for the Austin Sandhill power generation facility, coordinating with plant operators on daily output levels, startup power requirements, and operational issues. Beyond Sandhill, he was involved in TECO Frontera partnership coordination and created a document repository for team use on that project.

Wholesale power trading occupied the commercial side of his role. Dean handled electricity transactions in the Texas ERCOT market, including significant contracts with the City of Austin totaling 400 MW and 8,050 MW. He managed settlement issues and coordinated with municipal and utility counterparties across the region.

Real-time operations required constant attention to day-to-day power scheduling, transmission issues, and market operations in the newly deregulated Texas market. Dean worked closely with ERCOT personnel including Kenneth Donohoo, Jessica Bian, and Chris Moseley on scheduling, curtailments, and market implementation issues.

ERCOT Trading Team

Dean worked within a tight-knit ERCOT trading team. Doug Gilbert-Smith served as a fellow trader and scheduler, designated as an alternate contact for Sandhill operations. Smith L. Day and Mike Curry also worked as traders on the desk, both serving as alternate contacts for key operations. John M. Forney took over some of Dean’s book responsibilities in late 2001, and David Portz and Lance Cunningham provided research and analysis support.

The team coordinated with several supporting functions: Andrea Dahlke handled operations support, Stephanie Piwetz managed internal coordination, and Katina Smith oversaw back office and settlements activities.

ERCOT Market Activities

Dean participated actively in the implementation of ERCOT’s restructured electricity market. His work included involvement with ERCOT protocols implementation as Texas moved toward retail competition, LaaR (Load acting as Resource) registration processes, and wholesale market subcommittee activities. He dealt with transmission curtailments, capacity limits, and zonal transfer constraints as the market matured. Dean was also involved in ancillary services RFP processes and participated in APX Trading Exchange meetings for electronic matching transactions.

While his primary focus remained on the Texas ERCOT market, Dean occasionally coordinated on Colorado, Kansas, and Oklahoma interconnections as regional trading opportunities arose.

Key Correspondents

Dean’s correspondence patterns reveal both his professional network and personal relationships. His email traffic reflects the operational nature of his role, with frequent communication to counterparties and market operators.

The high volume of correspondence with Reliant Energy reflects Dean’s role in wholesale power transactions with major counterparties in the Texas market. The ERCOT contacts demonstrate his regular coordination with the grid operator on scheduling and market issues.

Email Activity

Dean’s email volume patterns correlate with market activity and seasonal trading cycles. His peak activity months reveal the rhythm of Texas power market operations.

The dramatic May 2001 peak corresponds with intensive ERCOT market implementation work during a critical period for Texas electricity deregulation. Activity dropped after October 2001, coinciding with Dean’s handoff of the City of Austin book to John M. Forney. The November 2002 emails represent final post-bankruptcy administrative correspondence.

Personal Background

Evidence from Dean’s email corpus suggests he was likely a University of Texas at Austin graduate or devoted fan. His TF-IDF signature terms are dominated by Texas Longhorns football terminology: longhorns, longhorn, horns, offensive, defensive, orange (the UT school color), and references to Big 12 opponents including Oklahoma, Colorado, and Kansas. Coach Mack Brown appears frequently in his correspondence.

This sports content appears primarily in exchanges with “[email protected],” a personal contact who shared Dean’s enthusiasm for Texas athletics. Dean also maintained contact with Jennifer Dickinson at the University of Texas ([email protected]), who later moved to ConocoPhillips. Additional interests evident in his correspondence include baseball, music (Vallejo band, Engine Room venue), and technology.

The extensive personal content in Dean’s work email archive, while unusual for a corporate setting, reflects the more casual communication norms of the early 2000s email era and the Texas trading desk’s collegial culture.

Role Evolution and Departure

In October 2001, Dean handed off his City of Austin book responsibilities to John M. Forney, suggesting either a role change or workload redistribution within the ERCOT team. His email activity dropped after this transition. By the time of Enron’s bankruptcy filing in December 2001, Dean’s documented correspondence had essentially ceased, with only two administrative emails recorded in November 2002.

The research file notes uncertainty about Dean’s post-Enron career trajectory. No evidence in the email corpus indicates involvement in the trading irregularities or accounting frauds that led to Enron’s collapse.

Legal Status

Craig Dean has not been named in any Department of Justice or SEC proceedings related to Enron. His role as an ERCOT power scheduler focused on Texas market operations, which were not implicated in the California energy crisis manipulations that led to criminal charges against traders in Enron’s Portland office.

See Also

• John M. Forney - Took over Dean’s City of Austin book in October 2001
• ERCOT - Texas electricity market where Dean operated

References

This article is based on 2,100 emails in Craig Dean’s PST archive (zl_dean-c_000.pst) spanning April 2000 to November 2002. The archive reflects approximately 160 unique correspondents across an eighteen-month period of substantive activity.