At Northern Lights Utility Locating, quality, culture, and customer service are the foundation of everything we do. As we grow beyond Indiana and expand into new markets, having the right leadership in place is essential. That’s where Ben Baker, the newest member of our executive team, comes in.
With over 25 years of experience in the fiber installation and internet service provider space, Ben brings a unique perspective to the utility locating industry—and a clear vision for scaling our operations while staying true to our roots.
OLIVIA CANTER: All right. Today I am here with Ben Baker from Northern Lights. Thank you so much
for joining me, Ben. How are you?
BEN BAKER: Thanks for having me. I'm fantastic. Good to be here.
Olivia: Awesome. So do you mind telling me a little bit about your involvement at Northern Lights and how you came to join the team?
Ben: Sure. So I'm the newest member of the executive team at Northern Lights, so I've been here about a week. So I Come from the internet service provider side of the house, so I spent roughly 25 years putting fiber into the ground. So I got to know the Northern Lights folks about five years ago, whenever I was having a not great experience with some other utility locating companies in multiple states. And I happened to get old of Jess Miller and they solved a number of issues not only from quality but price. So I got a much better product at a much better price and a number of different states. Oh, recently it just kind of happened where there was an opportunity that came along to where I could join the Northern Lights team. Having known them and known the kind of folks that they are and the family that run business and the product that they deliver, I thought it'd be a great opportunity to join a growing business.
Olivia: Awesome. So do you mind telling me a little bit about what your day -to -day looks like and how your past experience is going to play into your role at Northern Lights now and where you hope to take that?
Ben: Yeah. So previous experience I've worked in, most of the midwest on the east coast. So growing out market expansion,growing a number of different businesses from the ISP side. What Northern Lights is looking to do is a similar fashion in just a different discipline. So some of the big challenges that you run into is just, you know, how do you scale a business that's been a mom and pop business in Indiana? Right. How do you take those, those values, the quality of service, the product, the, you know, how you just maintain the level of satisfaction of your employees?
Olivia: Right!
Ben: How do you rank in culture? Like, how do you take those things and those things, how do you replicate them to scale to where you maintain those competitive advantages that you've built against other larger providers that maybe don't do that quite as well. So one thing that we're looking to do is implement not only training for our locate techs like a tech academy, but keeping up with, you know, getting make sure we're doing quality audits on a regular basis when we hire somebody new to make sure are they doing things up to the standard that we need them to do, enabling our management, our are local frontline supervisors giving them leadership training. So there's a lot of guys that are come from the locate, you know, they build themselves up in a career path through locating the very proficient locators, they come right very proficient lead Tech or forman and, and then they want to go into the management side. A lot of those guys, you know, getting the soft skills that people need, getting them to understand, you know, empathy, dealing with both not only the utilities, but excavators that are mad at you and employees. So enabling them to become leaders. So, and then the area managers is the leader on top of that. So kind of the same thing with them, understanding a lot of that logistics. So they play a lot of big part into whatever we're going to go into a new state or a new market, how do we project out headcount, trucks, phones, laptops, paint, you know, banks, right?
Olivia: How are we going to get there?
Ben: How are we going to get there? What are the compliance issues? What are the safety issues? What do we have to deal with HR? Like there's been, you know, dealing with a hard purple state like Minneapolis, where you have very different rules on how your employees are governed, versus, you know, say, say like Alabama, which is, you know, diametrically kind of different. Yeah. And then how do we adapt to those, those, you know, regulatory environments, and then keep the culture going within those.
Olivia: Yeah.
Ben: So a big part of that has been not only looking, you know, when you're a small successful company in Indiana, and you're used to doing thing yourself. Sometimes you have to start looking like, how do I partner with, you know, third parties? Who do I look to that I can partner with to scale? And then sometimes that can be kind of challenging because, you know, you've always held those things so tight. And I know if I do them, I get them, I get them done right. And it's going to be the way I want it.
Olivia: Yeah
Ben: From past experiences, you know, partnering with, with different companies and different vendors that can help enable you to scale faster. Because that's the thing is like, whenever you're looking at, you know, some of the things RFPs go out, one of the big things they want to know is, well, how fast can you be here? So, well, we can get there much faster if we have other people that are taking, you know, this off of our plate and this off of our plate and helping us all get there at the same time. So, I think one of the big value ads that I'm trying to bring to the company is those partners that add value,the partners that we can rely on, the partners that have the same values as us and can help us deliver that quality product that we have been.
Olivia: Absolutely, and deliver it quickly so you can maintain that competitive edge to it.
Ben: Correct.
Olivia: That's fantastic. Perfect. So my last question for you is, if you were talking to someone that has never heard of Northern Lights before, what's one thing you would want them to know about your company?
Ben: I would say the difference between Northern Lights is we, the emphasis that we put on, it's not really, people don't generally associate customer service with the utility locating industry, but that's what it is. It's the over communication. Like what we try to do is making sure that we're known to the excavators that we're over communicating with our customers, the 811 systems, like building those partnerships and making sure that we are seen and we are out there and we are accountable, we are taking your response. You know, it is an industry that's been, you know, kind of much maligned. A lot of times just because the incentives around, you know, you see the bee and all the arpa and the grants and the things that come out. So there's this giant push always to get things done. And then, you know, everybody's screaming because you can't get paid on the ground. Like, well, your guys is fault, you know, there's a lot of blame to go around. So I think we try to be a good partner to all stakeholders in the utility business. So I think that's where we try to do the extra mile and become that partner to the exhibitors, utility owners
Olivia: In an industry that's not typically customer service centric or customer focus. That's fantastic. Thank you so much for sitting down with me to be in talking about utility. Okay, it's fantastic. Thank you.
Ben’s journey with Northern Lights began not as an employee, but as a client. “I got to know the Northern Lights folks about five years ago,” he explained. “I wasn’t having a great experience with other utility locating companies across multiple states. Jess Miller and the team at Northern Lights stepped in and solved those issues—better quality, better price.”
That experience stuck with him. So when the opportunity came to join Northern Lights officially, he knew it was a team—and a culture—worth investing in.
With decades of experience leading market expansion for ISPs across the Midwest and East Coast, Ben is now applying that expertise to grow Northern Lights Utility Locating in new regions.
“The big question is: How do you scale a company that started as a small, high-performing Indiana business while preserving the quality, the culture, and the customer satisfaction that set it apart?”
His strategy includes building infrastructure that supports scale—without compromising quality. That means investing in:
As demand for underground utility locating services increases—fueled by fiber rollouts, ARPA funding, and national infrastructure projects—Ben knows speed matters.
“When RFPs go out, the first question is, ‘How fast can you be here?’ Partnering with the right third parties helps us answer that with confidence.”
Ben’s focus is building partnerships that align with Northern Lights’ values—vendors and collaborators who share our dedication to quality locating services, clear communication, and customer-first thinking.
For Ben, one of the biggest misconceptions about the utility locating industry is that it isn’t customer-service driven. He’s working to change that perception.
“People don’t normally associate customer service with utility locating, but that’s exactly what we’re about—overcommunicating with excavators, 811 systems, and stakeholders. We take responsibility. We stay visible. And we build trust.”
That mindset is what separates Northern Lights from larger, slower-moving national companies. It’s not just about marking lines—it’s about being a true partner in every project.
Whether you're expanding fiber networks, preparing a major excavation, or planning municipal utility upgrades, Northern Lights Utility Locating delivers the professional, scalable, and people-focused service you need.
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