When the winter storm rolled through Entergy Louisiana’s service territory, customers may have noticed bucket trucks in the air and crews working long past sunset. What they likely didn’t notice was the quiet layer of mentorship happening alongside the restoration – seasoned Entergy veterans walking job sites, coaching younger crews and making sure every decision in the field was well grounded in safety and experience.
That’s where Brent Gauthreaux and Entergy’s mentoring group came into play.
Gauthreaux, a senior coach and field mentor, has spent 27 years with Entergy and 34 years in the utility industry. His career spans decades of storms, system upgrades and evolving safety standards. Today, his job isn’t just about restoring power – it’s about passing on everything he’s learned to the next generation.
The mentoring group was created as Entergy saw a surge of newer, less-experienced lineworkers entering the workforce. While eager and capable, many young employees don’t yet have the field experience that traditionally came with years on the job. The mentoring team – now 23 employees strong, including leadership and administrative support – was designed to help close that gap.
Collectively, the group brings more than 700 years of experience to the field.
“These are people who’ve seen just about everything,” said one Entergy leader familiar with the program. “And they’re out there making sure hard-earned lessons don’t get lost.”
Gauthreaux’s days in Northern Louisiana were spent directly with crews. He visited active job sites, watched work in progress and stepped in to reinforce safety rules and best practices. As part of his regular duties, he helps lineworkers refine their technical skills, teaches proper techniques and ensures crews understand Entergy’s standards and processes. For newer employees, he often translates complex procedures into practical, real-world applications.
It’s part coach, part teacher and part storyteller. Much of the job is sharing what linemen call the “tricks of the trade,” or the small decisions and habits that only come from years in the field.
“Experience is something you can’t fast-track,” Gauthreaux often tells younger workers. “But you can learn from someone who’s been there.”
His path to the role reflects a career built from the ground up. Gauthreaux joined Entergy in 1999 through Meter Services as a way to get his foot in the door. Within three months, he transitioned to a lineworker position. Over the years, he served in reliability, serviceman and lead lineworker roles, building a reputation for steady leadership. In 2017, he moved into safety, and in 2018 he joined the field mentoring group as a senior coach.
Every mentor in the group previously held some form of leadership role, a requirement that ensures credibility with the crews they support. Beyond field workers, the group also assists frontline management, helping align expectations and strengthen communication across teams.
Their impact becomes even more visible during storms, like northern Louisiana saw just weeks ago.
Under emergency conditions, Gauthreaux performs the same mentoring functions – only this time in a restoration scenario. He works not just with Entergy crews but also with off-system and mutual assistance workers who arrive from across the country. These crews must quickly adapt to Entergy’s rules, equipment and safety expectations.
Gauthreaux helps bridge that gap.
He guides outside crews through job-site hazards, explains local processes and ensures leadership’s messaging is consistent in the field. His presence adds a layer of calm structure during what can be chaotic conditions.
He also plays a key role in leadership walkthroughs, identifying job sites that reflect real restoration challenges and coordinating visits so executives can see firsthand what crews experience. He travels to staging areas and crew camps, engages management teams and visits customer information centers – all to connect decision-makers with the realities on the ground.
For Gauthreaux, the work is deeply personal. He remembers being the young lineworker trying to absorb everything at once. The mentors he learned from shaped his career. Now he sees his role as continuing that tradition.
Storm after storm, job after job, the mentoring group operates mostly out of the spotlight. But their influence shows up in safer work sites, stronger crews and a culture where knowledge is shared instead of siloed.
In an industry where experience can mean the difference between routine work and serious risk, that quiet transfer of wisdom may be one of Entergy’s most valuable assets.
And for Gauthreaux, it’s the part of the job that matters most: making sure the next generation is ready – not just to do the work, but to carry it forward.
