Independent transmission company GridLiance continued to gather up industry expertise last week with the announcement that American Electric Power’s J. Calvin Crowder has joined the company as president of the South Central region, which includes the ERCOT, MISO South and New Mexico grids.

Crowder will oversee business development activities with public-power agencies from his base in Austin, Texas. Crowder was most recently president of AEP’s Electric Transmission Texas (ETT), which he helped grow to $3 billion in assets.

“Calvin is a highly regarded electric utility industry executive who brings an in-depth understanding of the utility business, collaborative management style and excellent relationships with RTO officials as well as state and federal regulators,” GridLiance CEP Ed Rahill said in a statement.

Crowder has 25 years of experience in the industry, much of it with AEP and its Central and South West predecessor. He has focused his career on regulatory and legislative matters, securing a $1.5 billion investment for ETT in ERCOT’s Competitive Renewable Energy Zone.

Crowder earned his bachelor’s degree in economics and his master’s degree in regulatory economics from New Mexico State University.

Kansas City-based GridLiance, formed in 2014, completed its first acquisition of transmission assets earlier this month. (See GridLiance Closes Acquisition of Tri-County Co-Op’s Tx Assets.)

— Tom Kleckner