Duane Highley

Duane Highley is the current CEO at Tri-State Generation & Transmission Association, Inc. Duane was previously the President/CEO for Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corp. (AECC) and Arkansas Electric Cooperatives, Inc. (AECI) from November 2011 to March 2019. AECC provided non-profit wholesale energy to cooperatives serving over 1 million member-consumers while AECI provided energy services including equipment sales, substation and line construction, right-of-way clearing, and high-voltage testing. AECI's subsidiary Today's Power, Inc. was created to develop utility-scale solar farms. AECI's subsidiaries ERMCO, ECI and GridBridge manufactured electrical transformers, components and power electronics for utilities and OEMs across north America.

Highley began their career in January 1993 as the Senior Vice President of Power Production at Associated Electric Cooperative Inc. Duane held this position until October 2011 when they became the President/CEO of AECC and AECI.

Duane Highley has a background in electrical engineering, having earned their B.S. from Missouri University of Science and Technology magna cum laude. Duane also has a Master of Science in engineering management from the same school. In addition, they hold a certification from the state of Missouri as a Registered Professional Engineer. Most recently, they completed Harvard Business School's Advanced Management Program (AMP177).

Some individuals on their team include Ken Reif - SVP and General Counsel, Brad Nebergall - SVP, Energy Management, and Barry Ingold - SVP, Generation.