Howard Eaton leads Primera’s substation team with a passion for cultivating long-term client relationships and a focus on providing high-quality utility services. In his words, he strongly believes that “Relationships are critical. They allow us to understand our client’s processes and needs. It’s about delivering the best technical product we can, combined with service tailored specifically for the individuals with whom we are working.” With more than 15 years of experience engineering and managing substation and distribution projects, he’s proud of the relationships he’s built. Howard’s expertise includes substation design, power transformers, unit substation transformers, circuit breakers, protective relaying, switchgear, busway, and cable. He also excels at project engineering, project management, productivity and cost analysis and data-based decision making in complex environments within the utility, industrial and federal markets.

Howard studied aerospace engineering at the United States Navy Academy in Annapolis, Maryland before serving in the U.S. Navy for five years specializing in nuclear power plant operations and management. Following his service, he spent several years focusing on the design and manufacturing of low and medium voltage electrical distribution equipment. Howard first joined Primera in 2012 as Electrical Group Manager in our Utilities division where he spent three years overseeing our electrical distribution and substation team and projects. Relocating to Nashville, Howard left Primera to lead electrical engineering teams in the design and construction of combined heat and power plants for large industrial, government, and hospital customers. Most recently he served as the VP/GM for two field service teams serving utility and industrial clients throughout the south and for a custom switchgear manufacturing plant specializing in medium voltage equipment. He rejoined Primera in 2021 with an infectious commitment to push our talented substation team to the next level.

When not at work, Howard is an avid reader that enjoys family, fishing, racquetball, and exploring new places and things. He is very active in his church and participates in various food drives and charitable events.