RICHLAND,
Wash. – Energy Northwest’s 27-member board of directors elected
five inside directors and one outside director to each serve four-year terms on
the public power agency’s 11-member executive board. The executive board sets
the policies that govern the operations of the organization. All terms begin in
June.
Among its members, the
board of directors elected the following utility commissioners to serve as
inside directors:
·
Terry
Brewer, Grant County Public Utility District 2
·
Arie
Callaghan, Grays Harbor County PUD 1
·
Linda
Gott, Mason County PUD 3
·
Jack
Janda, Mason County PUD 1
·
Will
Purser, Clallam County PUD
Selected from outside
its membership, the Board of Directors re-elected William “Skip” Orser, a former
chief operating officer with the Tennessee Valley Authority and a 30-year
nuclear industry veteran, to serve as one of three outside directors.
“Today’s executive board
represents a great combination of public power, industry expertise and
Washington state leadership,” said Sid Morrison, executive board chair. “Together
we’ve brought excellence in governance to this joint action agency, and we’ll
continue to hold each other to the highest standards of public power and the
nuclear industry. This includes maintaining an intrusive focus on providing regional
energy customers with clean, cost-effective and reliable electricity.”
Terry Brewer
Brewer was elected to
the Grant County Public Utility District’s Board of Commissioners in 2006 and
re-elected in 2012. Brewer was appointed to the Energy Northwest Board of
Directors in January 2011. In January 2013 he was elected board vice president;
and in January 2015 and 2017 he was elected board president.
He has 30 years of
electric utility experience with Northern Indiana Public Service Company; and
relocated to Grant County, Washington in 1997 to become executive director at
the Grant County Economic Development Council. He retired from there in 2012.
Brewer is a graduate of
Indiana University with a bachelor’s degree in business management and
administration. He and his wife Shirley reside near Soap Lake, Washington.
Arie Callaghan
Callaghan was elected to
the Grays Harbor Board of Commissioners Public Utility District 1 in 2012.
Callaghan was appointed to the Energy Northwest Board of Directors in March
2014. In January 2015 he was elected as the board assistant secretary; in
January 2017 as secretary; and in October 2017 as vice president.
He has 25 years of
experience with the Mason trucking company of Aberdeen, where his duties
include supervising the Fleet of six Lowboy trucks and driving one. He is a
lifelong resident of Grays Harbor and proud to be a third generation Harborite.
He has donated time to
the Polson Museum, youth sports and his daughter's school activities.
Commissioner Callaghan enjoys collecting and restoring vintage dirt bikes, off
roading, watching Nascar, manicuring the yard and spending quality time with
family.
Callaghan is married to
Tina and resides near Elma, Wash.
Linda Gott
Gott has served as a
Mason County Commissioner since 1999. She also serves on the American Public
Power Association's Legislative and Resolutions Committee and is past president
of Public Utility Risk Management Services. In addition, she currently serves
on the NoaNet Board of Directors and served six years on the Northwest Public
Power Association Board of Trustees. She previously served for six years as the
PUD’s representative to the Economic Development Council of Mason County and
continues to actively promote the benefits of public power and its involvement
in and build-out of rural telecommunication systems using fiber optic
technology.
Jack Janda
Janda was elected to the
Mason County Public Utility District 1 Board of Commissioners in 2001 and
re-elected to serve another six-year term beginning January 2013. He was
appointed to the Energy Northwest Board of Directors in January 2003, and was
elected by the board of directors to serve on the executive board in January
2005 to fill an unexpired term ending in June, 2006.
In April 2006, he was
elected to his first full four-year term on the executive board. In April 2010,
he was re-elected to serve another term on the executive board. Additionally,
he is vice chair of the executive board and has served as secretary/treasurer,
vice president and president of Columbia Generating Station Participants Review
Board.
While serving on the
Mason PUD 1 Commission, he represented the utility on the Washington Public
Utility District Association and has served on the WPUDA board as
secretary/treasurer, vice president and president. Janda also served as first
chair of the WPUDA Energy Committee in 2008.
Prior to his election, Janda
was employed with the Forest Service and retired after 32 years of government
service. He retired from the Hoodsport Fire Department after serving 33 years
as a volunteer fireman / EMT; and served as its chief for 10 years. He has also
served as a past board member of the Mason County Tourism Council and a past
member of the Hood Canal Salmon Enhancement Group. He attended Orange Coast
College in Costa Mesa, Calif., and the College of the Redwoods in Eureka,
Calif. He and his wife, Karen, reside in Hoodsport, Wash.
Will Purser
Purser has served as Clallam County Public Utility
District 1 commissioner since
April
2001. He was appointed to the Energy Northwest Board of Directors in April 2008
and elected to the executive board in June 2010.
He has spent nearly 30 years in the energy (oil and gas)
industry. An engineer with graduate studies in nuclear engineering,
Commissioner Purser holds (retired) professional engineering licenses in
numerous states. His career includes responsibility for capital-intensive and
technical projects in the U.S. and internationally, such as deep-water offshore
facilities, liquefied natural gas terminals and large Public Utility Regulatory
Policies Act power generation facilities.
He has negotiated power sales agreements with major
investor-owned utilities and intervened in electrical rate cases before various
state public utility commissions.
A Vietnam-era veteran, he is active in public power and
community service organizations.
William “Skip” Orser
Orser was first
appointed by the board of directors to the executive board in April 2010.
He was the interim CEO for Tennessee Valley Authority
from 2006-2007 before
continuing
as an advisor. Orser worked at Progress Energy Company from 1993-2005, until
his
retirement
as president, energy supply group. From 1987-1993, he held various positions at
Detroit
Edison Company, including executive vice president and chief nuclear officer. He
also
worked
at nuclear power plants owned and operated by Portland General Electric Co. and
Southern
California Edison Co.
Qualified as engineer officer, Orser served on three
nuclear submarines in the U.S. Navy from 1966-1975. A licensed professional
engineer in California, Orser earned a Bachelor of Science from the U.S. Naval
Academy in Annapolis, Md., and a master’s in computer science management from
the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif.
The board of directors has
27 member representatives; one representative for each of the 22 public utility
districts and five municipal utilities that comprise Energy Northwest. The
board of directors has sole authority to authorize and terminate Energy
Northwest projects.
The executive board members
includes five elected from the board of directors, three appointed by the board
of directors from outside of Energy Northwest, and the remaining three
appointed by the governor of Washington.
About Energy Northwest
Energy
Northwest develops, owns and operates a diverse mix of electricity generating
resources, including hydro, solar and wind projects, and the third-largest
provider of electricity in Washington – the Columbia Generating Station nuclear
power facility. These projects provide carbon-free electricity at the cost of
generation – enough reliable, affordable and environmentally responsible
energy to power more than a million homes each year. As a joint action agency
of Washington state, Energy Northwest comprises 27 public power member
utilities from across the state serving more than 1.5 million customers. The
agency continually explores new generation projects to meet its members’ needs.
In 2016, the Association of Washington Business named Energy Northwest Employer
of the Year.
###