GridLiance Appoints Jeff Bishop Chief Financial Officer

GridLiance today announced that Jeff Bishop has joined the Company as Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer. Mr. Bishop is responsible for managing GridLiance’s treasury, accounting, financial reporting, tax, budgeting and long-range financial planning functions. He will work closely with the Board of Directors and executive team to carry out the Company’s strategy of partnering with municipal, cooperative and joint action agency utilities (collectively, Public Power) to solve critical transmission problems and ensure customers – regardless of their electric provider – receive reliable and cost effective transmission service.

Mr. Bishop brings more than fifteen years of Public Power and utility industry experience, including expertise across finance, compliance, operations, strategic planning and information and grid management technology. He most recently served as Chief Financial Officer for Seattle City Light, the largest consumer-owned utility in the Northwest, serving nearly one million customers in Seattle and six surrounding communities. During his tenure at Seattle City Light, the Company’s executive team developed and implemented a long-term strategic plan to reduce costs, invest in aging infrastructure and increase customer reliability, including the construction of a new substation – the first in more than 30 years.

“Jeff brings a wide range of industry-level financial experience, gained from his work at Seattle City Light and PacifiCorp – two well respected and successful electric utilities,” said Ed Rahill, GridLiance’s President and CEO. “His deep understanding of the challenges Public Power faces in gaining a meaningful voice in the regional and national transmission planning and award process will be extremely valuable as we accelerate our strategy. We are pleased to welcome Jeff as a key member of our senior management.”

“Municipal and consumer-owned power agencies, which have historically been unable to invest in large scale, regional transmission projects, will benefit from GridLiance’s forward-thinking approach,” said Mr. Bishop. “GridLiance’s innovative partnership model provides a much-needed solution to the problems faced by Public Power, and – importantly – ultimately delivers important reliability benefits to customers. I’m excited to join GridLiance and look forward to working closely with the Board, management team and our Public Power partners to reshape how the industry plans, finances and builds transmission infrastructure for the benefit of all customers.”

Prior to Seattle City Light, Mr. Bishop held a variety of financial leadership roles at PacifiCorp Energy, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway’s MidAmerican Energy Holdings. At PacifiCorp Energy, he served as Managing Director of Finance, where he was responsible for the finance and accounting organizations for the wholesale trading business, fueling/mining segment and thermal, hydro and wind generation operations.

Mr. Bishop began his career at Deloitte & Touche, LLP, where he managed audit engagements for both private and publicly held companies primarily in the energy trading and utility sectors. He earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Washington State University and a bachelor’s degree in zoology from the University of Washington. He is a Certified Public Accountant and a member of the AICPA and Washington State Society of CPAs.

GridLiance also announced the appointments of Tim Salvesen as Vice President and Controller and Brian Mills as Director of Financial Planning and Analysis, both of whom will report to Mr. Bishop and support GridLiance’s long-term financial planning and execution efforts.

About GridLiance GP, LLC

Incorporated in 2014, GridLiance GP, LLC, which is backed by Blackstone Energy Partners, an affiliate of Blackstone (NYSE:BX), is the nation’s first competitive transmission company focused on collaborating with Public Power. Through its subsidiary transmission companies formed to operate in each RTO, GridLiance will jointly plan, develop, own and operate transmission assets with Public Power. GridLiance’s mission is to provide its Public Power partners with opportunities to invest in regulated transmission development projects, enabling the utilities to earn margins from regionally-funded projects to offset transmission rate increases, as well as receive other benefits, including lower energy costs and increased reliability for their customers, while providing greater access to renewable energy sources. GridLiance has offices in Kansas City, Missouri; Chicago, Illinois; Austin, Texas; and Washington D.C. GridLiance seeks to establish long-term agreements with all interested Public Power utilities. It currently has co-development agreements with the Missouri Joint Municipal Electric Utility Commission (MJMEUC), Tri-County Electric Cooperative (TCEC) and the Oklahoma Municipal Power Authority (OMPA), operating within MISO and SPP through its subsidiaries, South Central MCN, LLC and Midcontinent MCN, LLC, respectively. To learn more, please visit www.gridliance.com.

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