NRG People Power: Get To Know Cyndy Reynolds

Welcome back to People Power, where we introduce you to the NRG teams working hard to bring you world-class customer service, cutting-edge technological solutions, innovative product suites, and the best energy strategies for your homes and businesses. This month, we’re excited to feature Cyndy Reynolds

Sales is never just about hitting numbers — it’s about putting the customer first, driving innovation, adapting strategy to always deliver on customer needs, and enjoying the people you meet along the way. That’s the philosophy of Cyndy Reynolds, NRG’s Commercial Sales Director for Indirect Sales-West.

"The American West is a wild and fast-changing region, with extreme weather, resource challenges, and a shifting energy landscape that impacts our customers’ lives and businesses more than it ever has in the past," Cyndy says when asked to define what she does as a sales director. "While our customers’ needs keep evolving, their need for reliable and affordable power never changes. It’s up to us to stay agile, listen closely to their needs, and provide the exceptional service they deserve."

Cyndy manages the team working to serve small to medium-sized business customers in Texas and California with our comprehensive suite of energy products and services. The ‘Indirect’ part simply means those sales are facilitated through a third party — in this case, in collaboration with a network of energy brokers and consultants who she considers a trusted and valuable extension of her team.

Cyndy keeps one hand on the pulse of her busy and successful sales team with weekly huddles, collaborating cross-functionally, troubleshooting escalated issues, and interfacing with her contacts at various broker firms. Knowing that continued sales success relies on savvy evolution, she also keeps the other hand on the steering wheel of strategy.

Through business development meetings with her partners and calibration with NRG leadership, Cyndy has a clear, energetic view of the future and champions an adaptive sales culture — which she is always planning for. What will success look like next year, or in a decade? How are our teams and industry partners interconnected and how do we rely on each other to thrive? How do we pivot in times of change to create the best outcomes and keep the customer at the center of everything we do?

Cyndy was born on a U.S. Air Force base in California but moved to Dallas as a child; her Texas roots run deep. She started out as a math major at the University of Texas in Austin, where in her junior year, her group won the Red McCombs business fair with a prototype running shoe that had a built-in pedometer. That success spurred a pivot in focus to business, and she transferred to the University of Texas in Dallas and the Naveen Jindal School of Management for her B.S. in Business Administration. This fast-tracked her to an MBA in Strategic Leadership from the University of Dallas. The leadership skills and strategies she learned there are really coming into play now as she implements crucial approaches to collaboration, team and individual empowerment, trust and resilience in an evolving industry, and frontrunning gutsy, innovative sales strategy.

While she was pursuing her MBA, Cyndy got her feet wet in the energy industry, starting as a large business commercial care rep at a regional utility company. After six months in that role, her leadership team realized that she was actively cross-selling to customers while solving their inquiries, and they shifted her to a sales and management trajectory that hasn’t stopped since.

Cyndy then took a sales management role at NRG selling the Green Mountain Energy brand to businesses, where she gained valuable insight into selling through a vertically aligned "gentailer" business model (a company that both produces and retails electricity directly to consumers). There, she forged long-lasting broker relationships and was instrumental in helping strengthen Green Mountain’s commercial sales purpose as a company that exclusively offers a 100% renewably resourced energy supply.

In 2018-2019, Cyndy was the first in the company to helm a multi-brand commercial sales strategy across regions and sales channels, combining sales teams under the formerly competing brands, Green Mountain and Cirro. She took on additional brands and channels over the next several years, then transitioned exclusively to sales under NRG Business in 2022 to help align channel growth there. Coming full circle, her team was also the first to sell under the new NRG Business brand, which was a combination of five previously competing business brands with separate sales teams now working as one.

That team’s success is due in large part to their unique and innovative relationship approach. Cyndy helped design the new model, but she ultimately credits her entire team for coming together and making it work for the Indirect channel. They take a co-managed approach to accounts, stepping away from the traditional sales model of one account executive per broker. Instead, multiple team members work together, each with their own focus and expertise, to ensure their partners get faster responses, more support, and a stronger relationship that can evolve over time. In a recent survey of brokers, they ranked their experiences with Cyndy’s team at the highest level, with feedback indicating that they are energized by this non-traditional approach.

As if being a Commercial Sales Director with a multi-layered strategic vision doesn’t keep her busy enough, Cyndy is a Certified Energy Procurement Professional (CEP). She sat on the board of the Green Mountain Energy Sun Club, served as a brand ambassador for both Green Mountain and NRG, helps facilitate The Energy Professionals Association’s (TEPA) Power Women group, and participates in NRG’s Women in Power resource group. She is passionate about making sure more women have a voice in the energy industry.

At heart, Cyndy is a country girl who enjoys growing herbs and veggies in her garden and wrangling her small flock of Silkie chickens. During a busy workweek, she finds focus in exercise, usually an intense Pilates routine or a long walk, which is often joined by friends, her kids, or her dogs. And she happily devotes every spare minute to her "greatest support system," her husband Chris, their two sons (8 and 13), and her father Michael.

Whether it’s supporting the kids at their football or basketball games or building survival skills at summer camp, the family keeps busy with adventures. They spend their summer boating and swimming on their favorite lake, tell stories around the campfire after a winter hunting expedition, and challenge each other to try new activities, like snow skiing. Cyndy and Chris are determined to give their family memories of time spent together in the great outdoors.

If there was a phrase to describe Cyndy, her philosophy of life and business, and NRG itself, it’s "all in." Whatever project or strategy she’s developing, she’s in it to win it. From fluffy backyard chickens to being the first team to implement a new AI agent designed to help process contracts, she’s not afraid to dive into new adventures. "That," she says, "is usually where you find the most opportunity." She’s committed to revolutionizing what the future looks like, both personally and professionally.

"We are who we are as a strong, trusted company because we’re all on board — from leadership down. We all believe in our sales channels, our broker partnerships, and our investment in innovation and technology. We’re all excited, we’re all focused, and we’re all in for what’s ahead. The future is bright."