MISO on May 14 announced that Nirav Shah, Republic Airways’ former chief information officer and vice president of information technology, will serve as its new chief digital and information officer.

Shah had worked at Republic since 2017; his roles included chief digital officer and chief information security officer. Shah also led IT applications development at financial services company OneAmerica and has held IT roles at other institutions.

At MISO, Shah will manage the digital technology division’s innovation, operations and infrastructure areas. He will be responsible for the technologies that will support market innovations and MISO’s “reliability imperative,” the phrase it uses to describe it and members’ joint responsibility to ensure the clean energy transition occurs in a reliable and organized manner.

“We are pleased to welcome Nirav aboard, and we are confident he’ll play a key role in driving us forward as we continue to navigate the ever evolving and complex energy landscape,” Todd Ramey, senior vice president of markets and digital strategy at MISO, said in a press release. “He brings a well rounded background with significant expertise, and his strategic mindset will accelerate innovation for MISO and our members.”

“MISO’s responsibility to ensure reliable power for 45 million people makes this role particularly exciting,” Shah said. “I’m eager to join such a highly skilled team during a period of dynamic change where technology is paramount to MISO achieving its strategic priorities.”

Shah holds an MBA from Missouri State University, a master’s in computer science from the University of Missouri-Kansas City and a bachelor’s in computer engineering from the University of Mumbai. He also recently completed the Chief Digital Officer program at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.

The chief digital and information officer position is a newly created role at MISO, which said it revamped its IT leadership structure following former CISO Keri Glitch’s departure last year. (See MISO Names New Chief Information Security Officer.)

MISO said that while new CISO Eric Miller is focusing on security and cybersecurity, Shah will concentrate on technology infrastructure, operations, digital innovation and data analytics. The RTO said having duties split under two roles will improve its expanding digital technology department and will prepare it for the growth and complexity that it is expecting.

“Digital technology enables all the critical work at MISO, so it has great breadth. Both functions are critical to maintain grid reliability and to meet the demand of an ever evolving technology and security landscape,” MISO said in a statement to RTO Insider.