Guiding the Future: Celebrating 2025 Leadership Updates

2025 was a banner year at SPP, featuring an infusion of bold leadership. Each has demonstrated a commitment to the shared goal for SPP to be the best regional transmission organization in the country.

Who are the key members of the team hired or promoted in 2025?

Raymond Hepper, chair, Board of Directors - Hepper has more than 30 years’ experience in the electric utility industry and served as vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary for ISO New England until his retirement in 2018. He previously was a partner law firm of Pierce Atwood where he handled regulatory proceedings and complex power contracting issues.

Lanny Nickell, chief executive officer – Nickell joined SPP in 1997 and previously served as chief operating officer, vice president of engineering, and vice president of operations.  He received a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Tulsa and is a graduate of Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program. He participates in numerous industry and philanthropic boards and organizations.

Antoine Lucas, executive vice president and chief operating officer – Duties include engineering, operations, and markets administration for members and customers. Previously, he was SPP vice president of markets, taking the lead on developing Markets +. Before joining SPP, he was an engineer and system operator at Entergy Services.

Carrie Simpson, vice president of markets - Responsible for overseeing the development, design and delivery of all SPP market-based services, including Markets+. In her second stint with the company, altogether she’s worked about 10 years with SPP. Previously, she was senior director of seams and western services at SPP, and before that western markets director at Xcel-Colorado.

Felek Abbas, senior vice president, chief technology and security officer - Combines duties as chief security officer with new responsibilities for overseeing information technology and corporate facilities. Hired at SPP in January 2024, previously he was senior manager of cybersecurity for power and utilities at Ernst & Young and compliance auditor at North American Electric Reliability Corporation.

Kevin Bryant, executive vice president of stakeholder affairs and chief strategy officer - Oversees development and execution of SPP’s corporate strategy, SPP’s stakeholder process, and the organization’s relationships and communications with internal and external stakeholders. Previously, he served Evergy since 2003 in numerous roles that drew on his strategic insight and management experience, most recently, executive vice president and chief operating officer.

Emily Pennel, chief of staff – Focuses on executive communications, oversight of key projects and collaboration among SPP’s leaders and stakeholder groups. First hired at SPP in 2006, she previously was executive business partner at SPP.

C.J. Brown, vice president of operations – Brown previously served as senior director of system operations policy and performance support at SPP. He’s worked for SPP for 19 years. Prior to joining SPP, Brown worked several years for electric cooperatives in Arkansas and Missouri.

Also, multiple director-level positions were filled. Those include:

• Jim Gonzalez, senior director of seams and western services

• Emily Shuart, senior director, external affairs and stakeholder relations

• Carrie Dixon, technical director, market policy and operations

(Photos below left to right: Jim Gonzalez, Emily Shuart and Carrie Dixon)

• Seth Mayfield, director of markets development

• Erin Cullum Marcussen, director of governance, risk, and compliance

• Tim Vigil, director of the Market Monitoring Unit’s branch focusing on Markets+

(Photos below left to right: Seth Mayfield, Erin Cullum Marcussen and Tim Vigil)