Kevin Howard has been named Western Area Power Administration’s new executive vice president and chief operating officer.
“Kevin’s broad technical experience and organizational knowledge will greatly serve WAPA’s mission and employees,” said Administrator and CEO Mark A. Gabriel. “He will bring fresh perspective and expertise as WAPA navigates some of the most pressing issues facing us and the industry today, including asset management, physical security and safeguarding our employees from the risks of working in the high-voltage transmission world.”
Howard will provide executive leadership and strategic direction for engineering, security, asset management and technical programs critical to WAPA’s mission. He supervises about 100 employees responsible for carrying out these functions across the entire organization.
Howard has more than 33 years of experience in power system operations, maintenance, engineering and construction at WAPA. Most recently, Howard was the the vice president of operations for Sierra Nevada, where he was responsible for real-time power operations, operations and planning engineering as well as administration of WAPA’s Open Access Transmission Tariff. He also oversaw compliance with North American Electric Reliability Corporation Standards and represented WAPA on the Western Electricity Coordinating Council Operating Committee.
“I am excited to begin this next chapter of my WAPA career, and work alongside many intelligent and dedicated people committed to our mission of serving the energy frontier with renewable, reliable, cost-based hydropower,” said Howard. “WAPA has given me so much over the past 30 years. I look forward to repaying that investment toward the betterment of the organization, our customers and the federal government.”
Howard began at WAPA as a Federal Junior Fellowship student in 1984. When he graduated college in 1989, he joined the Colorado River Storage Project Management Center as an electrical engineer in Montrose, Colorado. From there, he was a team lead, Maximo coordinator, maintenance division director and Rocky Mountain engineering and construction manager. Kevin was selected as the maintenance manager for RM in 2008 where he led 185 engineers, craftsmen, maintenance specialists and managers and was responsible for maintaining the reliability of RM’s power system infrastructure.
A native of Montrose, Colorado, Howard holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Colorado State University. Howard also graduated from WAPA’s Executive Leadership Development Program in 2013.
