Mike Skaggs / Contributed photoTVA Chief Operating Officer Mike Skaggs, a former top nuclear manager who led the effort to finish the last new commercial nuclear reactor added to be added to America’s electric grid, announced Friday he will retire from the federal utility next January.
Skaggs is currently executive vice president and the No. 2 executive for the Tennessee Valley Authority. To ensure a seamless transition, Skaggs will continue to serve until TVA selects a new chief operating officer.
“Through his strong character, dedication and integrity, Mike has built a legacy that will endure for years to come,” TVA CEO Jeff Lyash said in a statement Friday. “In addition to leading one of the nation’s top operations organizations, he has helped lead the industry forward, always with a focus on the present and an eye toward the future.”
Skaggs was paid a total compensation package of $4.4 million in fiscal 2020, making him the second highest-paid federal employee in the country behind only Lyash, who received total compensation of $7.3 million last year, according to filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Skaggs, a nuclear engineer, headed operations at all three of TVA’s nuclear power plants during his career at TVA and served as TVA’s chief operating officer since the position was created in 2018. He previously was executive vice president of operations at TVA and formerly headed the completion of the Unit 2 reactor at the Watts Bar Nuclear Plant which was the last new nuclear unit built by a U.S. utility when it became operational in 2016.
As TVA’s chief operating officer, Skaggs is responsible for TVA’s gas, coal, and hydro generating assets, as well as TVA’s River Forecast Center, which has helped prevent more than $9.5 billion in flood damages since 1936. He is also leading the effort to enhance and modernize TVA’s transmission grid, the nation’s second largest transmission system, including the construction of a $300 million power control center in Meigs County.
Skaggs, a mechanical engineering graduate of Texas Tech University in 1982, has more than 35 years of experience in the utility industry, including 26 years at TVA. Skaggs joined TVA in 1994 as manager of projects at Watts Bar Nuclear Plant and later filled several executive leadership positions in operations and construction in TVA’s corporate offices and at the Watts Bar and Browns Ferry nuclear stations.
“Mike’s commitment to performance excellence has led to substantial improvements in TVA’s asset planning and operational execution,: Lyash said. “The lessons he has imparted during his tenure at TVA – lessons about commitment, perseverance and care for the team and those closest to the work – will be gratefully carried forward by the next generation of leadership.”