Skip to main content
Wednesday, November 11, 2026Nov 11
Subscribe
All Sections
Search
More

This story is exclusive to subscribers.

Should TVA hire another investor-owned CEO? These groups say no

Staff photo by Daniel Dassow / From left, TVA board members Randy Jones, Bobby Klein, Jeff Hagood, Art Graham, Bill Renick, Wade White and Mitch Graves sit beside TVA CEO Don Moul, right, at a board meeting in Hopkinsville, Ky. Renick resigned in February, and Moul will retire in July.
Staff photo by Daniel Dassow / From left, TVA board members Randy Jones, Bobby Klein, Jeff Hagood, Art Graham, Bill Renick, Wade White and Mitch Graves sit beside TVA CEO Don Moul, right, at a board meeting in Hopkinsville, Ky. Renick resigned in February, and Moul will retire in July. Staff photo by Daniel Dassow / From left, TVA board members Randy Jones, Bobby Klein, Jeff Hagood, Art Graham, Bill Renick, Wade White and Mitch Graves sit beside TVA CEO Don Moul, right, at a board meeting in Hopkinsville, Ky. Renick resigned in February, and Moul will retire in July.

By Daniel Dassow 6 min read

The Tennessee Valley Authority is searching for a new CEO for the second time in as many years, and one category of customers is pushing it to broaden the search beyond private, investor-owned utilities.

All four past and current CEOs at TVA have come to the nation’s largest public utility with prior management experience at private, investor-owned utilities like Duke Energy or NextEra Energy. While TVA is owned by the federal government, its leaders view these private companies as its closest peers in the industry, including when it comes to recruiting and compensating executives.

Don Moul, the current CEO, will retire July 1 after a little more than a year in the role. His announcement to the TVA board of directors on April 3 kicked off the board’s hunt for the next chief executive.

(READ MORE: Trump budget does not propose privatizing TVA as utility’s debt rises)

Leaders representing electrical cooperatives, which are private nonprofit utilities owned by their members, believe the board should consider recruiting an executive with experience leading cooperatives that generate and transmit wholesale electricity.