> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Mark Olson - URL: https://www.smdp.com/communityprofiles-mark-olson/ - Published: 2007-09-10T15:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-24T02:49:04.000Z - Author: Melody Hanatani - Tags: Business, Mid-City, #archive-import *An electric force in town Souther California Edison spokesman knows about the heat* MID-CITY Mark Olson was suffering from heat exhaustion. Not the type of heat exhaustion that would cause a person to pass out after spending hours under the sun, but the kind inflicted on a regional manager of the largest utility company in Southern California during a monster heat wave. The recent break in the excruciatingly high temperatures has Olson smiling, his job as the face of Southern California Edison’s Westside branch made much easier since the rolling blackouts have substantially decreased during the past few days. “It’s been an extreme challenge to repair and restore power throughout Southern California,” Olson said on Friday at his office in Santa Monica. Located on the south side of 22nd Street, a block from the Crossroads School, Olson’s office chronicles his 29-year career with Southern California Edison, which started when he was still a student at California State University Northridge. The walls are lined with honors and commendations from the state legislature and city councils, interspersed with photos of celebrities and family members. Among the photos are ones of each of the three main cast members from “Three’s Company” — an autographed head shot of Joyce DeWitt, and photographs with Suzanne Somers and the late John Ritter. On his desk is a UCLA basketball, autographed by former UCLA Bruin and now Charlotte Bobcat Ryan Hollins, signed following the team’s run to the National Championship game in 2006\. Hollins’ father, Denier, is a lineman at the Santa Monica branch. Olson had three years of college under his belt when he decided to go to work, starting in SCE’s Thousand Oaks office as a meter reader. For a college student trying to get by, reading meters for Southern California Edison was good and simple work, mundane, but had enough perks to keep him going. Olson recalls an outing in Malibu, sent to read a meter for a newly remodeled house. To his surprise, the man on the other side of the door was the king of late night television. “Johnny Carson came to the door and helped me find the meter because it was a new house with a new meter in a new location,” said Olson, now a regional manager for Southern California Edison. “He was just a neat guy to meet.” When Olson finally received his bachelor’s degree in liberal studies with an emphasis in business in 1982, the doors of opportunity started to swing open within the Edison company. Though Olson originally intended to be a teacher, he started seeing a career in the company. The entry-level position as a meter reader would eventually turn into a job in service-planning and later accounting. Olson would go on to become the regional manager and director of public affairs for the Santa Monica branch, moving to the Westside office in 1992. “It’s always been a good company with good benefits and it had the potential to move up because there are so many different types of jobs in the company,” Olson said. “It’s always been a fair company and one with opportunity.” ON THE FRONT LINE As the face of Southern California Edison, Olson is the one who sustains the brunt of the public’s anger when their electricity just doesn’t click on. This was never more true than in July when a group of angry business owners met with Olson at i Cugini restaurant to discuss the problematic Sun Tower Circuit that was constantly causing power outages in a stretch of Downtown Santa Monica. The business owners demanded answers from Olson as to what it would take to fix the circuit, many telling stories of profit losses from the blackouts. “We try to be a good corporate citizen in the communities we serve,” Olson said. “Occasionally there are customers that are upset or there are problems that need to be resolved.” “Part of my job is to find resolution and find common ground,” he added. “The outages in downtown are an example of that.” The company is investing in improvements system-wide, spending approximately $9 billion for an infrastructure replacement project that will take another three years to complete. The project includes improvements to Santa Monica’s power supply. “We put together a plan to do eight more significant upgrades in the next year on the Sun Tower Circuit,” Olson said. The Santa Monica regional office covers Beverly Hills, Culver City, West Hollywood, Marina del Rey and the other unincorporated areas of the Westside. It does not serve the local Los Angeles neighborhoods such as Venice and Westwood, which are serviced by the Department of Water and Power. The needs of the utility’s clients have grown since Olson first started with Edison, a time when residents didn’t use sophisticated garage door openers and plasma televisions. “Over the years, the customer expectations have changed because we have so many more electronics than we’re used to,” Olson said. *Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on September 10, 2007.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/091007.pdf?ref=smdp.com)