TVA promotes two executives to replace chief operating officer

Joe Grimes

Mike Skaggs

The Tennessee Valley Authority is promoting its two top nuclear power executives to new management roles to replace TVA Chief Operating Officer Charles “Chip” Pardee, who is retiring at the end of the year.

TVA Nuclear Chief Joe Grimes will become executive vice president of generation as well as chief nuclear officer, while Mike Skaggs. who has headed the startup efforts at the Watts Bar Nuclear Plant for the past three years, will serve as executive vice president, of operations for all of TVA. The changes are effective Oct. 3, TVA announced Friday.

Grimes will assume leadership of power operations along with generation construction, projects and services, in addition to his role as head of nuclear power, which he has led since joining TVA in 2013. He has more than 30 years of experience in utility operations, maintenance and engineering management, and has supported nuclear and fossil energy generating stations across the country.

In his new role, Skags will oversee safety, transmission and power supply, river management, natural resources, supply chain, infrastructure, TVA police, and continuous improvement. He has over 25 years of leadership experience in the utility business, 22 of those years at TVA. Skaggs most recently led the team completing construction of Watts Bar Unit 2, the first new nuclear reactor to be added to America’s power fleet in more than two decades.

“In the spirit of continuous improvement, we continually evaluate our organizational structure to ensure it most efficiently and effectively supports our mission of serving the people of the Tennessee Valley,” TVA President Bill Johnson said in a statement. “Naming Joe and Mike as leaders of these strategic business units enables us to provide strong leadership continuity, sustain our performance improvements and build on the progress we’ve made while keeping rates low and reliability high as the industry and consumer behaviors evolve.”