SANTA FE, N.M. — SPP Chairman Larry Altenbaumer told stakeholders Tuesday that the Board of Directors has elected Lanny Nickell as its chief operating officer.
Altenbaumer said the board approved Nickell’s appointment on Jan. 26.
Nickell, one of several internal candidates for the CEO position filled by Barbara Sugg, replaces Carl Monroe, who announced his retirement last year after 22 years with SPP. (See SPP COO Monroe to Retire in Early 2020.)
“I couldn’t be more excited about the opportunities I’ve been blessed to have, both by working in and on the SPP organization the last 22 years and to work with Barbara in our new roles as we move this fantastic organization forward,” Nickell told RTO Insider.
“I know with Barbara’s leadership our staff and stakeholders are going to do great things. I’m excited to be working more closely with our stakeholders to bring new and creative ideas to life,” he said.
“I have a tremendous amount of respect for Lanny and appreciate the expertise and strategic viewpoint he brings to the team,” CEO-elect Sugg said in a statement. “His commitment to SPP and our culture will serve him well in this critical role as we look forward.”
Altenbaumer noted boards rarely get to fill both the CEO and COO positions at the same time. “It is even rarer for a board to have the luxury of the opportunity to select an individual of Lanny’s caliber to become its new COO,” he said.
Nickell, promoted last year to senior vice president of engineering, joined SPP in 1997 and has more than 27 years of experience in the electric utility industry. He directed the development of SPP’s Regional Transmission Expansion Plans; delivered the RTO’s generator interconnection, transmission and financial congestion hedging services; administered regional resource adequacy policies; and ensured reliability and market operations engineering support.
Nickell came to SPP from Public Service Company of Oklahoma and Central and South West Services, now American Electric Power. He has a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Tulsa and is a graduate of Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program.
SPP members also elected Bronwen Bastone, who has a background in financial services and human resources, to the Board of Directors.
In announcing Bastone’s approval, Altenbaumer promised “she will more than live up to the hype we have spread about her.”
Bastone has nearly 20 years of HR and human capital strategy experience, spending more than half of that time in financial services. Her deep HR background was one of the selling points to the search committee.
She replaces Phyllis Bernard, who left the board last year after 16 years as a director.
Bastone is a partner at investment bank Exos Financial. She previously held roles at Brookfield Asset Management, Cushman and Wakefield and Knight Capital Group. Bastone has an MBA from the University of Technology Sydney.
“The challenges facing SPP and the RTO industry as a whole will continue to become more complex, and the need for a more agile, digital and strategic workforce becomes critical to its success,” Bastone said in a statement. “My focus will be working with the SPP board and management to ensure that we continue to attract, engage and strengthen the skills of the workforce to tackle each of the challenges facing SPP in a more innovative and proactive manner.”
