Mike Talley, Chief Administrative Officer
Mr. Talley joined Synergetic Design in 2007 and oversees daily operations in corporate finance and administration. He brings over 23 years of experience with a track record of high-growth success in entrepreneurial environments. Prior to Synergetic Design, he served as chief financial officer at BeaconMedaes, a leading supplier of centralized medical gas solutions, where he helped to grow annual revenue from $6M to more than $100M in eight years. His experience also includes financial leadership at data communications and chemical manufacturing start-ups. Mr. Talley holds a B.S. in business administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and is a Certified Public Accountant.

John S. Thompson, P.E. – SVP Eastern and Transmission & Substation
Mr. Thompson became senior vice president in 2005 after leading the reincorporation of Synergetic Design into a professional engineering firm. He joined Synergetic Design in 2002 as vice president charged with developing a technical consulting business to complement the field services division. Mr. Thompson has over 20 years of experience in the electric utility industry, including various leadership positions in distribution, transmission, and substation in both investor-owned and electric cooperative environments. Mr. Thompson is a 1984 graduate of The Citadel with a B.S. in electrical engineering and is a registered professional engineer in North and South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Ohio, and Virginia.

Collier M. Hall, P.E. – SVP Western
Mr. Hall joined Synergetic Design in June 2005 as senior vice president and also oversees the engineering consulting practice. He spent the first 23 years of his utility industry career with Duke Power Company, where he held numerous field operations and general management positions. Throughout his career, Mr. Hall has served on several Southeastern Electric Exchange (SEE) and Edison Electric Institute (EEI) Committees, including chairing a 2002 SEE reliability taskforce to develop a communication guide for SEE utilities to use when discussing reliability with state regulators. He also co-chaired an EEI taskforce to develop standard reliability reporting among member utilities for benchmarking purposes. He has served on the EEI Distribution and Metering Strategic Advisory Executive Committee since 2001, serving as chairman in 2003. In July 2003, Mr. Hall joined Davies Consulting Inc. as vice president, energy practice, leading DCI efforts to expand its reliability and asset management services to utility clients. Mr. Hall graduated from North Carolina State University in 1980 with a B.S. degree in electrical engineering and is a registered professional engineer in North and South Carolina.

Byron Bass – Region Vice President
Mr. Bass joined Synergetic Design in 2006 and is responsible for field offices in South Carolina and Florida. Prior to joining Synergetic Design, he was general manager of the South Coastal region at Progress Energy Florida and oversaw engineering, operations, construction, and financial performance for a region with 650,000 customers, a $24 million O&M budget, and $40 million in regional and asset capital construction budget. He previously worked at Laurens Electric Cooperative (SC), South Carolina Electric & Gas, and Georgia Power.  Mr. Bass is EIT certified and has completed 70 percent of the MBA program at Clemson University. Mr. Bass graduated from Clemson University with a B.S. in electrical engineering in 1989. He successfully completed management development programs at the University of South Carolina and Duke University and has been trained by IBM and Price Waterhouse in continuous improvement.

David Dent – Region Vice President
Mr. Dent was promoted to region vice president in 2007 and currently oversees business development and operations in Georgia, the Florida Panhandle, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. He joined Synergetic Design in July 2003 as Atlanta regional manager and built Synergetic Design’s staff and client base in Georgia. More recently, he played a key role in expanding services throughout the Gulf States. After moving to Georgia in 1987, he worked with Oglethorpe Power in the substation test group and devoted the past 19 years to working on distribution design projects, including AM/FM mapping projects, joint-use make-ready projects, DOT utility relocation projects, planning projects, various revenue projects, and special projects. Mr. Dent started his career in 1984 as an electrical engineering co-op student with Mississippi Power Company while attending Mississippi State University, where he earned a B.S. degree in electrical engineering. 


Loren Lex – Region Vice President
Based in Minneapolis, Mr. Lex currently oversees central and upper Midwest operations. Mr. Lex joined Synergetic Design in 2001 as regional business manager and was promoted to region vice president in 2006. He began his career in the electric utility industry as an electrical line worker and distribution designer with Dayton Power & Light Company in 1991. In 1997, he joined Xcel Energy (formerly Northern States Power Company) as a designer and transmission and substation project manager.