Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) operates a public power system and supplies power in Tennessee, northern Alabama, northeastern Mississippi, and southwestern Kentucky and in portions of northern Georgia, western North Carolina, and southwestern Virginia. The Company manages the Tennessee River, its tributaries and certain shorelines to provide navigation, flood damage reduction and electricity, among others. The Company is a wholesaler of power. The Company sells power to local power company customers of TVA (LPCs), which then resell power to their customers at retail rates. TVA's LPCs consist of municipalities and other local government entities (municipalities), and customer-owned entities (cooperatives). TVA has approximately three nuclear sites consisting of over six units in operation and approximately one unit under construction. The Company's transmission system has approximately 70 interconnections with over 10 neighboring electric systems.

Utilities

Tennessee Valley Authority

John Taylor

Jeff W. Smith of Knoxville, Tenn., has spent his career in the [Department of Energy](/org/department-of-energy)'s national laboratory system, most recently serving as the Deputy for Operations at [Oak Ridge National Laboratory](/org/oak-ridge-national-laboratory), a position held since 2000. He is also President of the UT-Battelle Development Corporation and, as part of a previous special assignment, assisted with the creation of the [U.S. Department of Homeland Security](/org/the-department-of-homeland-security). His term expires May 18, 2022.



Jeff W. Smith

A.D. Frazier of Mineral Bluff, Ga., has spent his entire 35-year career as an executive manager in the for-profit, not-for-profit and government sectors, principally in the financial services industry. After serving as the chief operating officer of the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games, he became the only COO to be awarded the International Olympic Committee’s Olympic Order in Gold, its highest service award. His term expires May 18, 2022.



A.D. Frazier

Don Moul, executive vice president and chief operating officer, has nearly 35 years of experience in all areas of power generation and operations. He possesses a strong track record of enhancing operational performance and teamwork through a disciplined and collaborative leadership approach.

With primary responsibility for TVA’s power generation, transmission, and power supply functions, Don serves in a key leadership role at TVA. With one of the nation’s most resilient, diverse generation portfolios, he will lead TVA’s industry-leading efforts to provide increasingly cleaner energy.

Don also leads a number of other mission-critical areas of TVA’s business, including Safety, Integrated River System Management; Natural Resources; Environment; Supply Chain; Major Projects; Facilities Management; TVA Police and Emergency Management; and Enterprise Improvement.

In his role, Don is focused on delivering high reliability, low cost and operational excellence with safety as the highest priority. His work in directing TVA’s state-of-the-art grid modernization applies technological innovations to creating the energy system of the future that will be ideally positioned to meet emerging customer demands. In addition, Don oversees TVA’s River Forecast Center that helped prevent more than $1 billion in potential flood damage in fiscal year 2020 alone. 

Throughout his career, Don has held a variety of leadership positions, primarily in nuclear divisions, with American Electric Power, Duquesne Light Company, FirstEnergy Corporation, GPU Nuclear Corporation and Public Service Electric & Gas.

Before joining TVA in June 2021, Don was executive vice president and chief nuclear officer at NextEra Energy where he was responsible for the safe and reliable operation of NextEra’s nuclear fleet, which includes seven operating units at five plant sites. He also oversaw decommissioning activities at Duane Arnold Energy Center.

From 2004 to 2019, Don served in a variety of leadership roles at FirstEnergy Corporation, including leading the nuclear and fossil generation, transmission and distribution, commodity operations and environmental compliance functions. Under his leadership, the First Energy nuclear fleet achieved its best-ever outage and total-cost performance, while maintaining exemplary INPO continuous monitoring ratings in 2018.

Don also previously served as vice president for FirstEnergy Commodity Operations, focused on power production and retail supply in the PJM Markets. He also served as president of Ohio Edison and Penn Power – two of FirstEnergy’s operating companies.

Don earned a bachelor of science in nuclear engineering from The Pennsylvania State University and an MBA from the University of Notre Dame. He also has been a senior reactor operator at multiple nuclear stations.

Don Moul

Mike Skaggs, who has over 35 years of experience in the utility industry—26 of those years at TVA—currently serves as TVA’s chief operations officer. In that capacity, he is responsible for key areas of the business, including: Safety; Transmission and Power Supply; Coal, Gas, and Hydro Generation; Integrated River System Management; Natural Resources; Environment; Supply Chain; Major Projects; Coal Combustion Residuals Project Implementation; Facilities Management; TVA Police and Emergency Management; and Enterprise Improvement.

As director of TVA’s many different types of generation assets, he is responsible for ensuring that TVA can keep the lights on now and in the future. With his unique focus on operational excellence, Skaggs has brought to TVA new levels of excellence in decision making, asset planning, and performance improvement.

Skaggs’ focus on the individual contributor has led him to promote a safety-first mindset at TVA, and he introduced and champions the company’s four vital safety behaviors. He has also introduced a revitalized effort to identify and develop leaders within TVA to ensure the seamless, reliable functioning of the company for many years to come.

With reliability at the forefront, Skaggs is currently overseeing an effort to modernize and enhance TVA’s transmission grid so that it is more flexible, responsive, and ready to meet the challenges and opportunities of tomorrow. He also oversees the River Forecast Center, which has helped to prevent more than $9.5 billion in flood damage across the Tennessee Valley region.

An engineer by training, he joined the company to manage performance analysis for initial Watts Bar Nuclear Plant operations before overseeing capital projects for TVA’s transmission system, substations and telecommunications.  

Before moving into his current position, Skaggs was TVA’s senior vice president of Operations and Construction at Watts Bar Nuclear Plant. In this position, Skaggs provided oversight of the completion, integration, startup and power ascension testing of Unit 2—the nation’s first new nuclear generation of the 21st century. Prior to assuming management of Watts Bar operations and construction in 2013, Skaggs served as senior vice president of Nuclear Construction, with responsibility for Watts Bar Unit 2, Bellefonte and the Sequoyah Unit 2 steam generator replacement project.

In addition to leading the completion effort of Watts Bar Unit 2, Skaggs’ experience includes the completion and startup of Watts Bar Unit 1; the recovery of Browns Ferry Unit 1 to return that site to full, three-unit operation; and the successful management of two steam generator replacement projects. He has held top management posts at each of the company’s three operating nuclear plants and led a number of initiatives across the nuclear fleet that resulted in improved operational performance, organizational alignment and cultural health.

A registered professional engineer, Skaggs holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas, and earned a senior reactor certification at Watts Bar Nuclear Plant.



Michael D. Skaggs

Beth Harwell was the speaker of the Tennessee House of Representatives for seven years while serving as the 56th District state representative for nearly 30 years. Previously, she chaired the Tennessee Republican Party and served as an assistant professor of political science at [Belmont University](/org/belmont-university), as well as in a variety of additional roles in both education and public service. Her term expires on May 18, 2024.



Beth Harwell

Brian Noland of Johnson City, Tenn., joined [East Tennessee State University](/org/east-tennessee-state-university) as its ninth president in 2012 after previously serving as the chancellor of the West Virginia Higher Education System. In 2018, he was elected to the board of the American Council on Education and also serves on the boards of a number of other educational and civic organizations, as well as an Institute of Higher Education fellow at the [University of Georgia](/org/university-of-georgia). His term expires May 18, 2024.



Brian Noland

William Kilbride of Chattanooga, Tenn., served as President/CEO of the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce from 2014 to 2017. Previously, he served as president of the Home Division and Chief Sustainability Officer for [Mohawk Industries](/org/mohawk-industries) in Calhoun, Ga., for over 20 years. He currently serves on the board of several non-profit and for-profit Chattanooga-based organizations. His term expires May 18, 2023.



William Kilbride

John M. Thomas III, TVA’s executive vice president and chief financial officer, leads financial services functions—including Strategy; Financial Planning and Business Development; Treasury; Controller; Risk Management; Business Services; Investor Relations; Commercial Transactions; Technology Innovation; and Information Technology—for the nation’s largest public power provider with annual revenues of more than $11 billion.

He is instrumental in keeping TVA’s rates low and stable through sound business and financial planning, as well as debt management. Under his leadership, the organization has created one of the strongest balance sheets in the industry—keeping rates lower than 70 percent of the rest of the nation.

TVA’s financial performance under Thomas’ leadership has been so successful that the company has announced that it will keep rates stable until 2030 — a key provision in the long-range financial plan. This has been a key factor in launching TVA’ Long-term Partnership Proposal, an arrangement wherein local power companies have signed a 20-year business agreement with TVA, in which partners get more involvement in the organization’s planning, a 3.1% wholesale power rebate and flexibility to generate up to 5% of their own energy needs.

Despite losses in power sale during the COVID-19 pandemic, TVA’s strong financial position has made available $1 billion in customer relief credits in FY20, and a $200 million rate reduction in FY21. TVA also has provided to date $4 million in matching funds via its Community Care fund and has provided additional incentives for large industry to stay in operations through its Back to Business program.

Thomas also oversees new technology exploration in the fields of solar energy, batteries, connected communities and electric vehicle infrastructure among others.

Previously, Thomas served as executive vice president of People and Performance, responsible for TVA’s organizational effectiveness initiative, human resources, compliance, performance analysis, diversity and labor relations, and TVA security functions. Thomas has also served as senior vice president for corporate governance and compliance, vice president and controller, and chief accounting officer.

Before joining TVA, Thomas was chief financial officer for Benson Security Systems, a security system integrator located in Phoenix, Arizona, responsible for strategic planning, accounting operations, treasury and financial reporting. Prior to that, he was controller and director of risk management at Progress Fuels Corporation and Progress Ventures Inc., both subsidiaries of Progress Energy, a diversified energy company headquartered in Raleigh, N.C.

John M. Thomas III

Tim Rausch, executive vice president and chief nuclear officer, leads TVA’s robust nuclear organization, and is responsible for oversight of seven reactors at three nuclear sites: Watts Bar, Sequoyah and Browns Ferry, which together generate enough carbon-free power for more than 4.5 million Tennessee Valley homes and businesses. TVA operates the third largest nuclear fleet in the nation.

Rausch has more than 30 years in commercial nuclear operations. His background includes leadership roles in operations, maintenance, engineering, training, quality, process re-engineering and project management. 

Drawing from all of his experience, he is intensely focused on improving overall operational performance of the TVA fleet so that it ranks in the top quartile in the nation by the end of 2022, and that it is the best in the nation by the end of 2025.

Rausch has introduced a practical “learn, prepare, execute” culture of continuous improvement for the TVA nuclear fleet and is focused on further strengthening TVA’s nuclear safety culture. Beyond that, he promotes a quality work environment through five focus areas that highlight his belief in the power of “We”: We Work Safely, We Execute Flawlessly, We Operate Reliably, We Manage our Resources and We Develop our People.

Under his leadership, TVA completed a multi-year, 465 megawatt uprate on the three units at Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant. This uprate provides enough additional generation to power 280,000 homes from the current plant footprint.  

Prior to joining TVA, Rausch served as senior vice president and chief nuclear officer at Susquehanna nuclear plant from 2009, first with [PPL Corporation](/org/ppl-corporation) and subsequently with Talen Energy, until accepting the chief nuclear officer position with TVA. At Susquehanna he led the team that developed and executed a business plan to reduce costs by over 25 percent while producing best-ever safety, reliability and generation results in 2017. He had responsibility for corporate executive leadership implementing governance, oversight and support for safe, reliable and cost-effective nuclear company performance.

Additionally, Rausch served as site vice president of Exelon Nuclear Corporation’s Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station and plant general manager at First Energy’s Perry Nuclear Plant, where he advanced through positions of increasing responsibility.

Rausch has a senior reactor operator certificate on a Boiling Water Reactor-2 and a Boiling Water Reactor-6. He received an MBA from Cleveland State University and earned a B.S. in Nuclear Engineering from the University of Cincinnati. He supports careers for the next generation in the nuclear industry by serving on the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga College of Engineering advisory board.


Timothy Rausch

Jeannette Mills, executive vice president and chief external relations officer, has over 30 years of commercial and regulatory experience in the energy and utilities sectors, with a strong track record of delivering high-quality customer service and driving economic development.

Mills leads TVA’s vision and execution for relationships with customers, communities, government officials, stakeholder groups and regional industry. She also oversees TVA’s economic development activities and its role as regulator. She manages relationships with the 153 local power companies that distribute TVA energy, as well as its directly served industrial and institutional customers.

Mills’ vision is for TVA to have a proactive, collaborative presence in Tennessee Valley communities, working with local governments and stakeholder groups to serve the region side-by-side and pursue a better quality of life for all of its residents.

She is a dynamic and active speaker, addressing Valley industrial, governmental and community groups on topics that include diversity and inclusion, STEM careers, robotics, public service, and women’s career development within the energy sector. She is a tireless advocate for women’s well being and was recently named to the board of directors of the Women’s Foundation for a Greater Memphis, which aligns people with resources and coordinates community-based services through the two-generation approach to poverty reduction.

Prior to joining TVA, Mills served as the senior vice president of Safety, Health, Environmental and Assurance U.S. at [National Grid](/org/national-grid) Group, the U.K.’s largest investor-owned utility. There she was responsible for occupational and process safety; health and wellbeing; environmental management; and assurance oversight within the company's U.S. region.

Prior to joining the [National Grid](/org/national-grid), she served as commissioner for the Maryland Public Service Commission. She was appointed by Governor Lawrence J. Hogan and served on a five-person panel that regulated gas, electric, telephone, water, sewage disposal and transportation companies.

Mills started her career with Baltimore Gas and Electric where she spent 25 years advancing through positions of increasing responsibility. From 2008 to 2013, she served as vice president of Customer Operations and chief customer officer, implementing a comprehensive customer-facing strategy that resulted in a 30 percent improvement in BGE's customer satisfaction.

She also served for five years on the Board of Directors of Medifast, a pioneering company in the field of weight management and healthy living products. In 2013, she was named executive vice president, overseeing the company’s personal coaching division.



Jeannette M. Mills

David Fountain, executive vice president and general counsel, serves as TVA’s chief legal officer for enterprise matters. He also provides counsel to the Board of Directors and, as TVA’s Designated Agency Ethics Official, is responsible for promoting an ethical performance culture across TVA. Before assuming his current role, he was senior vice president and vice general counsel.

Fountain joined TVA in June 2020 after serving in various leadership roles for more than 20 years with [Duke Energy](/org/duke-energy) and predecessor companies Progress Energy and Carolina Power & Light. His most-recent title with [Duke Energy](/org/duke-energy), a Fortune 125 investor owned utility that provides electric and gas service to nearly 9.5 million retail customers across seven Southeastern states, was senior vice president-legal, chief ethics and compliance officer and corporate secretary. Previously, he was [Duke Energy](/org/duke-energy)’s North Carolina president, responsible for the financial performance of the company's regulated electric utilities in its largest market – approximately 3.3 million electric retail customers. He had simultaneous responsibilities for advancing the company's rate and regulatory initiatives, managing state and local government relations, and leading its strategy for over 3,000 miles of waterways and shorelines.

Earlier at [Duke Energy](/org/duke-energy), Fountain served as senior vice president of enterprise legal support, leading the nuclear, commercial transactions, litigation, and environment, health and safety legal departments. Prior to the merger with [Duke Energy](/org/duke-energy), Fountain was vice president of the Progress Energy legal department, responsible for leading the company’s daily legal operations and the corporate secretary’s office.

Fountain earned his J.D., MBA and undergraduate degrees from the [University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill](/org/university-of-north-carolina-at-chapel-hill) (UNC). Upon graduation, he practiced with what is now the Charlotte office of [McGuireWoods](/org/mcguirewoods-llp), focusing on environmental, administrative, corporate and transactional law.

Outside of work, Fountain is involved in various community and statewide organizations. He is a member of the UNC Board of Visitors; the Energy Center Advisory Board at UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School; and a member of the boards of the Shepherd’s Table Soup Kitchen, the YMCA of the Triangle and Dix Park Conservancy. Fountain is a former board chair of the North Carolina Chamber; the North Carolina Chamber Legal Institute; the Alexander YMCA; Leadership North Carolina; and Marbles Kids Museum. Fountain is a participant in Leadership Knoxville’s class of 2021.



David B. Fountain

As a member of TVA’s enterprise leadership team, Sue Collins is responsible for developing and leading business-aligned strategies to ensure successful outcomes for both the 10,000 employees who power TVA’s mission and the 10 million customers they serve.

Collins applies her extensive experience to the role of executive vice president and chief people & communications officer for the agency — a role that gives her a dual perspective. Regardless of the stakeholder, employee or public, Collins strives to put the human experience at the heart of every business decision and aims for mutually beneficial results.

On the communications front, her team advocates for the Public Power model by sharing TVA’s story. Through media and various channels, they raise awareness of the agency’s vital mission and inform customers and the public across a seven state service area about issues impacting their communities and lives.

Internally, Collins’ leadership has been instrumental in charting the company’s People Advantage, a strategy designed to amplify the power, passion and creativity within all employees. As part of People Advantage, Collins and her team are committed to creating an inclusive company culture that celebrates the individual; leading action plans and programs to engage employees, and designing talent recruiting and development programs to make TVA a destination for difference makers.

To help lay the foundation for People Advantage, Collins’ team recently undertook a two-year transformation of the company’s human resources delivery model. Called People First, the new model takes a people-centric approach, emphasizing listening, improving resources, increasing collaboration and harnessing technology to bring value to everyone within the organization.

Prior to joining TVA in 2014, Collins served as senior vice president of human resources for the Constellation Energy Nuclear Group (CENG), where she was responsible for building the comprehensive HR function for a complex, $1.5 billion joint venture involving 49.99 percent French ownership and 50.01 percent U.S. ownership. Collins’ leadership within the joint company focused on developing and implementing a progressive people strategy as a foundation for achieving desired business results.

Collins earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Le Moyne College and an MBA with an emphasis in human resources and organizational behavior from Syracuse University. Collins serves on the board of Girls Inc. of Chattanooga as the Governance Committee Chair, as well as on the board of Helmets to Hardhats, a national, nonprofit program that connects transitioning active-duty military and veterans with skilled training and quality career opportunities in the construction industry.

 



Sue Collins

Jeff Lyash is as comfortable talking with a crew in a plant as he is in the boardroom. His exceptional people skills and technical experience make him one of the top leaders in the energy industry. Appointed president and chief executive officer of the [Tennessee Valley Authority](/org/tennessee-valley-authority) by the Board of Directors in February 2019, Lyash leads the nation’s largest public utility and one of the top producers of electricity in its mission of serving the people of the Tennessee Valley.

Under his vision and leadership, TVA has significantly lowered operating and maintenance costs, improving both productivity and efficiency. These savings are passed on to customers in terms of lower energy costs – 70 percent of the nation pays more for energy than those served by TVA. In 2019, he announced a 10-year financial plan proposing a decade of stable rates – making TVA and the Valley even more competitive.

He introduced a long-term partnership proposal with our Local Power Companies that allows us to fully leverage the capability of the Tennessee Valley Public Power model. In less than a year, more than 90 percent of the 153 local power companies that TVA serves have signed onto the partnership. The partnership allows for better long-range planning and closely aligns the interests and objectives of TVA and our customers.

With significant public and stakeholder input, a new Integrated Resource Plan was approved that serves as a guide as TVA provides clean, reliable and low-cost energy for the next 20 years.

Lyash has shown tremendous leadership in providing support and assistance to the customers and communities impacted during the pandemic. This includes providing $1 billion of credit support to Local Power Companies; a $4 million Community Care Fund; and Back-to-Business incentives for local businesses. In addition, in August 2020 the TVA Board approved a $200 million Pandemic Relief Credit — a 2.5 percent reduction — for customers during Fiscal Year 2021. 

Before coming to TVA, Lyash served as president and CEO of Ontario Power Generation Inc., one of the largest electric generating companies in Canada with a diverse fleet of nuclear, hydroelectric, gas, biomass and renewable generating stations.

Lyash was formerly the president of CB&I Power where he was responsible for a full range of engineering, procurement and construction of multi-billion-dollar electric generation projects in both domestic and international markets. He also provided operating plant services for nuclear, coal, gas, oil and renewable generation.

Prior to joining CB&I, Lyash served as executive vice president of Energy Supply for Duke Energy where he led engineering, maintenance and operations of the company's 42,000-megawatt generation fleet, fuel procurement, power trading, major projects and construction, environmental programs, and health and safety programs.

Before the merger of Progress Energy and Duke Energy, Lyash was executive vice president of Energy Supply for Progress Energy. In this role, he oversaw Progress Energy's diverse 22,000-megawatt fleet of generating resources including nuclear, coal, oil, natural gas and hydroelectric stations. In addition, Lyash was responsible for generating fleet fuel procurement and power trading operations.

Lyash joined Progress Energy in 1993. Before leading the Energy Supply division at Progress, he served as executive vice president of corporate development, president and chief executive officer of Progress Energy Florida, senior vice president of Energy Delivery Florida, and vice president of Transmission.

Lyash also held a wide range of management and executive roles in Progress Energy's nuclear program, including operations manager, engineering manager, plant manager, and director of site operations.

Lyash began his career in the utility industry in 1981 and worked for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in senior technical and management positions throughout the Northeast and in Washington, D.C.  He received the NRC Meritorious Service Award in 1987.

Lyash earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Drexel University, and was honored with the Drexel University Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2009. He has held a senior reactor operator license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and is a graduate of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management Executive Training Program and the Duke Fuqua School of Business Advanced Management Program.

Lyash is an avid golfer and fly fisher. He and his wife, Tracy, enjoy cooking, skiing, reading and charitable work – and spending time with their two married children and nine grandchildren. The Lyashes live in Knoxville, Tennessee.



Jeffrey J. Lyash

Kenneth Allen of White Plains, Ky., was executive vice president of operations and chief operating officer for Armstrong Coal Company. With a 50-plus year career in the coal industry, he has served in numerous roles from field electrician to division chief electrical engineer to mine superintendent to operations manager to VP of resource development and conservancy for [Peabody Energy](/org/peabody-energy). His term expires May 18, 2021.



Kenneth Allen

John Ryder of Memphis, Tenn., served as General Counsel for the Republican National Committee from 2013 to 2017. In addition, he remains a leading bankruptcy and election law attorney with the Harris Shelton law firm in Memphis and has served as an adjunct law professor at [Vanderbilt University](/org/vanderbilt-university), his law school alma mater. His term expires May 18, 2021.

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