Chris Lyles

Lead a 30-person multidisciplinary overhead distribution organization responsible for maintenance, construction, emergency response, customer connections, aging-infrastructure replacement, and wildfire-mitigation initiatives across Denver’s electric distribution system. Drive safe, reliable, customer-focused operations through workforce leadership, disciplined project delivery, and fleet management.

• Led a 30-person multidisciplinary team overseeing Denver’s overhead distribution infrastructure, including new residential and commercial customer connections, aging-asset replacement, emergency response, and wildfire-mitigation projects.
• Achieved a zero-injury safety record among 25 linemen in a traditionally high-risk operating environment through strong field leadership, employee engagement, and disciplined safety practices.
• Delivered 90% customer-response performance within 48 hours while maintaining no emergency work orders outstanding beyond two days.
• Maintained less than 10% annual voluntary attrition through employee input, open communication, and deliberate onboarding of new team members.
• Expanded utility leadership across generation, transmission, and distribution, adding direct responsibility for distribution operations and a deeper understanding of how transmission decisions affect downstream reliability, field operations, and customers.

Led a 25-person multidisciplinary team responsible for deploying federal funding for transmission infrastructure and planning tools under BIL and IRA, evaluating major private-sector projects supporting load growth in congested U.S. regions and briefing investment decisions to senior DOE leadership and the Secretary of Energy.

• Deployed $3 billion in transmission funding within 15 months, leading the evaluation and selection of large-scale private-sector transmission projects and personally negotiating contracts with project developers.
• Established and applied an in-house evaluation framework to assess transmission projects based on regional load growth and electrical congestion, gaining exposure to proposed transmission investments across U.S. power markets.
• Led executive-level project reviews and briefings for Grid Deployment Office senior leadership and the Secretary of Energy, then managed the transition of selected projects to dedicated monitoring teams.
• Led program transition and workforce actions during a major organizational change, coordinating briefings for incoming political appointees, managing the OPM deferred-resignation process for approximately 40 career employees, and supporting the separation of approximately 10 probationary employees.

Recruited by Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm to lead the U.S. response to Ukraine’s damaged transmission system following Russia’s 2022 invasion, coordinating U.S. utilities and federal agencies to source, transport, and support installation of critical transmission equipment in Ukraine.

• Secured $20 million in transmission equipment from U.S. utilities and coordinated delivery to Ukraine as part of an emergency effort to restore critical power infrastructure before and during the 2022–23 winter.
• Led a multi-agency team of government and private-sector professionals, including C-level representatives from major U.S. utilities and officials from USAID, DOD, and DOE, working directly with Ukraine’s transmission operator to identify critical equipment needs.
• Coordinated four major equipment shipments to Ukraine, with each tranche requiring at least five C-5 or C-17 cargo aircraft, managing the movement of U.S. transmission assets into a European power system.
• Directed the transition from equipment acquisition to field deployment, coordinating with Ukrainian counterparts and U.S. partners to support installation of donated transmission assets and deliver an emergency infrastructure response under severe time constraints.

Led a 20-person team that built WAPA’s first enterprise asset management program, using asset condition and consequence data to improve capital planning across a 17,000-mile transmission system serving 15 states. Combined field experience with asset data to help determine where capital and O&M dollars could deliver the greatest reliability benefit.

• Built WAPA’s inaugural asset management program within 24 months, establishing baseline data for three major asset classes and giving leadership a consistent basis for capital investment decisions.
• Improved the accuracy of O&M investment decisions by 90% and increased investment confidence by 75% through better asset health, condition, and consequence data.
• Developed detailed knowledge of WAPA’s 17,000-mile transmission system across 15 states, including how transmission assets are designed, constructed, operated, maintained, and prioritized for replacement.
• Used regional field experience and asset-level analysis to support capital projects and O&M decisions, helping WAPA address aging infrastructure while preparing the federal transmission system for future load growth.

Served as Chief of Staff to WAPA’s Administrator, coordinating senior and executive staff and representing the Administrator with major customers, other Power Marketing Administrations, congressional staff, and senior Department of Energy officials. Helped keep leadership priorities, customer concerns, and operational issues connected across WAPA and Washington, D.C.

• Directed senior and executive staff on behalf of WAPA’s Administrator, coordinating leadership priorities and ensuring key issues were addressed at the executive level.
• Represented WAPA with C-level customer executives, other Power Marketing Administrations, congressional staff, and senior DOE officials, strengthening communication across the organization’s customer and federal relationships.
• Connected operational concerns with executive and external decision-making, ensuring customer issues and WAPA priorities were clearly communicated to senior leaders and federal stakeholders.
• Expanded from utility program leadership into executive-level organizational leadership, building the senior-level communication, relationship management, and decision-support experience that preceded your Department Manager role.

Served as the link between WAPA’s technical teams and industry customers, translating complex transmission-system, capital-program, and customer-service issues into practical business discussions. Built stronger working relationships with customers by understanding both WAPA’s operating requirements and the realities facing the electric power industry.

• Reduced years of customer friction by clearly explaining WAPA’s transmission system, capital program, customer interfaces, and operating requirements, helping replace longstanding disputes with productive working relationships.
• Worked directly with industry customers to understand their operational needs and constraints, then connected those needs with WAPA’s technical and business processes.
• Translated complex transmission and infrastructure issues into clear business discussions, strengthening communication between WAPA technical personnel and external customers.
• Built a strong foundation in utility customer relations and transmission operations, preparing for subsequent roles in project management, asset management, and department leadership at WAPA.

Managed transmission projects and capital-planning work while developing a detailed understanding of how WAPA designs, builds, operates, and funds a federal transmission system and serves its customers. Introduced asset-management data into replacement decisions, helping shift capital planning from age-based priorities toward asset condition and criticality.

• Used asset-management data to identify critical transmission assets for replacement, helping direct limited capital toward assets with the greatest operational need rather than simply replacing the oldest equipment.
• Built stakeholder support for capital decisions by translating technical asset information into clear visual presentations that made investment priorities easier for customers and decision-makers to understand.
• Developed hands-on knowledge of federal transmission operations and customer relationships, working across the technical and business issues involved in providing reliable transmission service.
• Established the asset-management and capital-planning foundation that led into later WAPA leadership roles, including development of the agency’s inaugural asset management program.

Managed projects supporting the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration and Department of Defense, building a foundation in complex federal programs, project delivery, technical operations, and work performed under demanding national-security requirements.

• Managed projects supporting the production of nuclear weapons for the Department of Defense, working within NNSA’s highly regulated national-security environment.
• Built 13 years of project management experience before moving into Western Area Power Administration, providing the foundation for progressively larger responsibilities in transmission, asset management, and federal energy programs.
• Developed experience working across technical, operational, and federal stakeholders, preparing for later leadership roles involving large infrastructure programs, capital investment, and utility operations.