Members to Vote on Whether to Place Former Ford Exec on Board

MINNEAPOLIS — MISO’s Board of Directors next year likely will include a former Ford executive, directors announced last week.

MISO’s Nominating Committee interviewed eight candidates and two incumbents to fill three open slots on the board beginning in January. Current members Jody Davids, Theresa Wise and Robert Lurie are rounding out three-year terms and were up for re-election.

Davids ultimately decided not to seek a second term on the board. She joined the board at the beginning of 2021.

The opening likely will be filled by Jeff Lemmer, the former vice president and CIO at Ford Motor Co.

The Nominating Committee — comprising two MISO members and three MISO directors — worked with search firm Russell Reynolds to select candidates for interview.

MISO Director Phyllis Currie said while at Ford, Lemmer supervised the inclusion of EVs in production.

Otherwise, current directors Wise and Lurie will stand for election.

MISO members now have about a month to vote electronically on the new appointment and incumbents; candidates must earn a majority of member votes to be confirmed.

MISO and its board still must decide which directors it might retain for an extra term through a waiver that allows them to stand an additional three-year term beyond the three-term limit.

The board has said it has multiple directors who will hit their three-term limit beginning next year and it may use waivers to preserve institutional knowledge. (See “Waivers May be Necessary to Retain Directors Past Term Limits,” MISO Board of Directors Briefs: March 23, 2023.)

MISO’s board consists of nine independent directors and the RTO’s CEO. The independent directors are limited to three three-year terms, but its bylaws allow some board members to serve an additional term under certain circumstances.

Directors Currie and Mark Johnson were re-elected to their final terms that began in 2022. They will hit their three-term limit at the end of 2024. Todd Raba, H.B. “Trip” Doggett and Barbara Krumsiek also were re-elected late last year. Their final terms conclude at the end of 2025.

Finally, the board selected Raba, the current board chair, to continue leading the board in 2024. Raba said the MISO board will remain his only professional commitment.

“Basically, I’m all in,” he said.

MISO Pursues $400M Budget for 2024

MISO says it likely will spend nearly $400 million over 2024, continuing a trend of budget increases year-over-year.

MISO is proposing a $370 million 2024 operating budget, which contains a nearly 15% increase in base operating spending over 2023. It also is eyeing approximately $27.3 million in capital spending.

MISO likely will up its $0.44/MWh tariff rate for members to $0.47/MWh next year.

MISO CFO Melissa Brown said increases to the member rate remain below nationwide inflation trends.

Brown said MISO’s total increase for 2024 is 9.1%, higher than the estimated tariff rate increase of 7%. The extra percentage over the tariff rate is from revenues MISO receives from the studies it performs for its generator interconnection queue and fees it collects to evaluate competitive transmission project applicants.

MISO said much of the jump in base operating expenses boils down to hiring and retaining employees.

The RTO said it soon will add nine new employees specializing in system planning and five new staff members to concentrate on MISO’s ongoing market redefinition, or how MISO will adapt its market design for more complex operations.