Energy Northwest’s executive board named Brad Sawatzke as the agency’s chief executive officer. Sawatzke has been acting as interim CEO since the departure of Mark Reddemann. The board also appointed Grover Hettel as Chief Nuclear Officer. Hettel previously served as Vice President for Operations. Replacing Hettel as Operations Vice President is Bob Schuetz, who will also continue in his role as Columbia Generating Station’s plant general manager pending selection of a new plant manager. In an organizational change, the EN Executive Board moved the agency’s hydro, wind and solar operations, as well as new development and energy business services, under the leadership of Brent Ridge.
“I am humbled and honored with this new opportunity,” Sawatzke told the board. “We have a talented and capable team, and I’m very enthusiastic about the bright future facing us as a 100 percent clean generator of environmentally safe and affordable electricity.” As CEO, Sawatzke leads an organization of nearly 1,100 men and women the most prominent of which is the Columbia Generating Station nuclear power plant. Columbia, near Richland, provides approximately 10 percent of Washington’s electricity, or enough electricity to power one million homes.
