SPP Hires Kevin Bryant for New Executive Post

Kevin Bryant (Photo provided by SPP)

Southwest Power Pool, the electric grid operator that’s expanding west, has hired Kevin Bryant to a new executive post.

SPP, based in Little Rock, oversees grid transmission  across a 14-state footprint in the middle U.S. The not-for-profit organization also ensures competitive wholesale electricity prices on behalf of its members.

Bryant will join SPP as executive vice president of stakeholder affairs and chief strategy officer. Incoming President and CEO Lanny Nickell made the announcement in a news release Tuesday.

“My vision for SPP’s continued success depends on ambitious strategy, high visibility and a high degree of engagement with and among each of our stakeholder audiences,” Nickell said in a statement. “Kevin is a dynamiting, engaging leader with a passion for organizational strategy.” Nickell said he expects Bryant to bring “exactly that kind of excitement, expertise and experience SPP needs” for the future.

A former executive at investor-owned utility Evergy Inc., Bryant’s first day will be April 1. He will oversee SPP’s corporate strategy and lead the administration of its independent and inclusive stakeholder process. Another duty will be directing relationships with internal and external stakeholders. Those include members of the independent system operator and its market participants in the eastern and western interconnections. Other stakeholders are neighboring utilities and grid operators, regulators, elected officials, the media and the public in its growing footprint.

Bryant’s Background

Bryant started at Evergy, which has dual headquarters in Topeka, Kansas, and Kansas City, Missouri, in 2003. Most recently, he was its executive vice president and chief operating officer.

Previously, he was chief financial officer, vice president of energy solutions and executive lead over corporate venture capital business.

A graduate of the University of Missouri at Columbia, Bryant had dual majors in finance and real estate. He earned a master’s in business administration from Stanford University Graduate School of Business. He is on the boards of directors of Winnebago Industries and Children’s Mercy Kansas City.

“SPP has tirelessly served its stakeholders with passion, integrity and the highest level of professionalism,” Bryant said in the release. “I’m both humbled and excited to join Lanny and the SPP team in taking on the challenge” of the future.