Valley Public Power Leadership Academy

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Valley Public Power Leadership Academy

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Leadership Program for Local Power Companies & Tennessee Valley Authority in the Tennessee Valley.

10/02/2026

The VPPLA trip to Knoxville for our Tennessee Valley Authority Leadership session was fantastic. Tour of Norris Dam with TVA's Eric Bodiscomassink was an eye opening experience. Love Eric's passion for all the dam things. Next was a visit to the Museum of the Appalachia. Thanks to TVA Historian Jennifer Thelen for our dive into the past. Great food and music at the MOA. Day 2 started with a back and a life lesson discussion with TVA's Laura Campbell. After Laura we got to visit with the Executive team of TVA's CFO Tom Rice, CAO Will Trumm, General Counsel Ed Mead, & SVP of Customer Relations Dan Pratt. They brought us up to date of all things TVA. We then toured the TVA River Center with Darrell Guinn. Another dedicated TVA employee. After lunch to wrap up our day we visited with TVA's Senior Director of Stakeholder Engagement Amy Edge & KUB's CEO Gabriel Joseph Bolas II to talk about Leadership Lessons. Lots of tidbits! Thanks to all our participants and the wonderful job they did to make our trip a success.

09/04/2026

Nashville Electric Service did a wonderful job of hosting Valley Public Power Leadership Academy for our Local Power Company event. Thanks to NES CEO Teresa Broyles-Aplin, CPO Doc Trish Holliday & HR Assistant Admin Artetta West for all your efforts. Thanks to Johnny Brown & Kevin Phelps for the special tours of NES facilities.
Thanks to CHRO Jaerica Troutt from Department of Electricity for leading GDE University. Thanks to CEO Jennifer Brogdon from Upper Cumberland Electric Membership Corporation for joining Mark Kimbell for a special Coop & Municipal Electric System discussion.
Thanks to Paris Utility Authority CEO Terry Wimberley for leading our Multi-Utility Panel Discussion and for Loudon Utilities GM Kevin Goins, Shelbyville Power System GM Jason Reese, Huntsville Utilities COO Chris Jones & Lawrenceburg Utility Systems CEO Vic Pusser for serving on the multi-utility panel.
Special Thanks to Gallatin Department of Electricity Board Members Beth Bennett & Paul Jones and Upper Cumberland EMC Board Members Morris "Moose" Tyree, Steve Spivey, Mike Bowman & Chris Speck for serving on our LPC Board Discussion Panel.
We have had another fantastic event because of all the people listed above. It's on to Knoxville for TVA Leadership next.

08/14/2026

Great group to kickoff Cohort 5 of Valley Public Power Leadership Academy. We had a welcome from Dan Pratt of Tennessee Valley Authority. We listened as the VPPLA Board discussed the importance of the program and participation. Each Cohort Member presented their personal Timeline about education, family and how they ended up in the power industry.
The second day we had the one and only Dr. Trish Holliday, the Chief People Officer from the Nashville Electric System come and talk about the 3Cs (Collaboration, Community, Connection). Great session that kept getting better. Doc Holliday also had Author Jessica Stollings present about the Generations in the workplace and how we can leverage each generation for the good of everyone. You should grab her book (ReGENerate) for a great read on how we interact as different generations. Thanks to the Doc and Jessica for helping get our program off to a wonderful start.
Thank you TVA for all the support to make this program happen.

05/21/2026

This week, VPPLA cohort 4 met in Louisville, KY at the Tennessee Valley Public Power Association's 80th Annual Conference. It was there where this great group graduated from the program and became another addition to the VPPLA Alumni. Congratulations to the 2026 VPPLA graduates. The journey was long, the commitment was hard and the time spent together was priceless.

Two awards are presented to each graduating class after being voted on by their peers.

The first is the Leader of Leaders award. Someone who not only leads effectively within their own role or team but also elevates and influences other leaders across the organization or industry. Congratulations to this year's recipient Monte Cooper from Jackson Energy Authority! 👏

The second is the Emerging Leader award. Someone who demonstrates strong potential to grow into higher levels of leadership and is beginning to expand their influence beyond their current role. Congratulations to this year's recipient Brittany Davis from McMinnville Electric System. 👏

Please help us congratulate the entire VPPLA Class of 2026!🥳

Tennessee Valley Authority participants:
Brian Smith
Amy Strickland Tate
Christopher Smith
Alan South
Lana Moore
Manu Sivaraman
Ying Ayliffe
Amy Reagan
Harry Schmidt
Joseph Burchfield
Autumn Katras
Jamie Bach
Eric Grau

LPC Participants:
Jason Grisham, ACE Power
Seth Selby, Arab Electric
James Wright, Duck River EMC
Jason Dye, VEC
Chad Spencer, BGMU
Ray Hardin, Decatur Utilties
Janet Phan Rehberg, EPB of Chattanooga
John Corum, Cleveland Utilities
Brittany Davis, McMinnville Electric System
Monte Cooper, JEA
Erin Gill, KUB
Tyler Jones, Sheffield Utilities
Wes Scott, Fort Payne Improvement Authority

Valley Association Participants:
Caleb Hall, TVPPA
Sean Strickler, AREA
Jeremy Elrod, TMEPA

05/05/2026

Cohort 4 finished the year on a Nashville visit with TVA's Leadership including TVA Chair Mitch Graves and newly hired President & CEO Mike Skaggs. Also serving on the panel was Senior VP & Chief of Staff Laura Campbell & Senior VP of Customer Relations & Ec Dev Dan Pratt. I love the vision that Mike has for TVA and the knowledge that he brings with him. He is going to be great for TVA and the Valley.
Thanks to Cohort 4 Member & TVA's CEO Communications Advisor Amy Reagan. Also enjoyed a visit with TVA's Ec Dev VP John Bradley as he prepares for retirement. Lots of great leadership insight.
Day 2 we had another special session with THE Doc Trish Holliday. Trish does such a great job of motivating & encouraging us all to be better leaders. Thanks to TVA Historian Jennifer Thelan for the history lesson and spending time with our VPPLA group.
We are now on to Graduation in Louisville, KY on May 20th at the Tennessee Valley Public Power Association Annual Conference!

04/10/2026

We just concluded a successful trip to Chattanooga for our Tennessee Valley Authority Generation & Operations Days. Lots of dedicated TVA employees presented to the group including Chris Reneau at Watts Bar Nuclear, Kristin Spearman at the TVA System Operations Center, Hunter Hydas (System Planning/Cohort 2), Eric Grau (Transmission/Cohort 4), Allen Claire (Generation/Cohort 1), and Andrew Campbell (Bull Run Fusion Project). Also thanks to Janet Phan Rehberg (CEO Elect from Chattanooga EPB/Cohort 4) for the presentation & tour of EPB's Quantum Center.

Looking forward to our Nashville visit at end of the month for TVA Leadership.

Address

Gallatin, TN

Telephone

+16155662254

Website

http://vppla.com/

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