The Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC) board of directors has selected Melanie M. Frye as the organization’s new president and CEO. Frye joined WECC in 2007 and most recently served as WECC’s vice president of reliability planning and performance analysis.
“Choosing a CEO is one of the board’s most important responsibilities and one in which the full board actively participated,” said Kristine Hafner, WECC board chair. “The WECC board of directors engaged in a thoughtful and deliberative search process. After an extensive nationwide search with outreach across the broad stakeholder community both within the Western Interconnection and among industry leaders nationwide, we unanimously agreed to offer the position to Melanie Frye with full confidence in her ability to lead WECC in the years ahead.”
Hafner added, “Her in-depth knowledge of the critical issues unfolding in the West, her extensive experience developing and leading important WECC reliability assurance services and her deep understanding of WECC’s regulatory mandate all contributed to her selection from a pool of highly qualified candidates.”
The Western Electricity Coordinating Council promotes bulk electric system reliability in the Western Interconnection, the power transmission system that covers the western U.S. and Canada. It is the regional entity responsible for compliance monitoring and enforcement.
In addition to Frye’s recent responsibilities for WECC’s technical and analysis functions, including events analysis, situation awareness, reliability planning and assessments, performance assessments and standards development, she spearheaded and co-authored WECC’s strategic and operational planning process. As a member of the executive team, she also created the framework for WECC’s “Invented Future” and shaped the transformation within the organization.
“I am honored to have been selected by the board to lead WECC,” said Frye. “My years of experience, combined with my industry background, has prepared me for this leadership role in one of the most complex footprints within the Electric Reliability Organization enterprise. I plan to pursue WECC’s important reliability and security mission by actively listening to and understanding the realities experienced by members and stakeholders working toward the same goal.”
The vacancy was a result of Jim Robb stepping down to assume this same leadership role for the North American Electric Reliability Corp.