Power behind Hydro stepping down

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This article was published 18/08/2011 (5375 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

He’s one of Manitoba’s most powerful men, running a company that employs 6,200 and supplies electricity to a big chunk of the continent.

Bob Brennan has been a fixture at Manitoba Hydro for 47 years and its boss since 1990, guiding the organization successfully into the modern era and transforming it into an economic powerhouse.

But on Wednesday, at the age of 70 and after months of consideration, he announced his retirement from Manitoba’s largest Crown corporation. Brennan will stay on until a successor is selected — likely in early 2012. An international search will soon begin for a new president and CEO.

But it’s clear that his departure will be an adjustment for both sides.

“I’ve been thinking about it for some time. It’s hard for me to do and it’s hard for the company to do it, too,” Brennan said in an interview shortly after the corporation informed employees of his retirement Wednesday morning.

University of Manitoba economist John McCallum, who chaired Hydro’s board in the 1990s, said Brennan took what was largely an engineering-focused company and transformed it into “a very high-performance modern enterprise.”

“This is a good modern company with proper practices and procedures focused on the customer,” said McCallum, who was a Conservative appointee.

It’s also big, having grown considerably under Brennan’s leadership, with annual revenues exceeding $2 billion. Its ambitious construction projects, from huge northern hydro-electric dams to new downtown headquarters, have employed thousands of construction workers. Meanwhile, its power exports have brought much-needed revenues into the province.

Given Hydro’s size and importance, the Crown corporation has become a political football and an election issue. The New Democrats say the Tories, if elected, will privatize Hydro, which the Conservatives deny. The Conservatives are trying to make political hay over the NDP’s choice in the route for a hydro transmission line.

On Wednesday, Progressive Conservative Leader Hugh McFadyen said he found it curious that Brennan’s retirement comes on the eve of a provincial election campaign in which Hydro, and the NDP’s decision to build the Bipole III transmission line down a more expensive route on the west side of the province, will be a front-burner issue.

McFadyen has said if he’s elected premier Oct. 4, he’ll cancel that route in favour of a shorter and less costly east-side route without jeopardizing environmental concerns.

“He’s been required to defend a decision which is indefensible,” he said. “In light of the timing immediately prior to the start of an election campaign, it makes you think that political interference played a role in this.”

Premier Greg Selinger said Brennan’s departure has nothing to do with the upcoming election, but everything do to with a man who’s had a full career and deserves a break.

“It’s an unbelievable record of service,” Selinger said. “The man deserves to call his time when he wants to retire.”

Brennan said he has mixed emotions about leaving an institution to which he’s devoted his whole working life. A chartered accountant, he joined Hydro in 1964 as an internal auditor. Three years later, he became manager of the unit, and worked his way up from there.

“I don’t know, from my perspective, if there’s ever a good time (to retire), but I think right now is as good as it can get,” he said. The Wuskwatim hydro generating station near Thompson will soon come on stream, he said. Plans for two more big dams are in the works.

“No matter what you hear or read, right today, we are the best in the country. Our rates are the best, our performance indicators are pretty well the best. I think every other utility would be envious of us,” he said.

Hydro chairman Vic Schroeder couldn’t be reached for comment Wednesday. He said in a statement the search for Brennan’s replacement will be a “thorough and measured” process.

A spokesman for Selinger said the search will be international in scope. The appointment will ultimately be made by cabinet in the form of an order-in-council, he said.

McCallum said Brennan has had a distinguished career and his successor will have “very, very big shoes to fill.”

The utility has a strong and deep management group, he said. “In my view, there are some splendid people at that corporation who are ready for higher office.”

larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca

Career highlights

Bob Brennan has overseen the expansion of Manitoba Hydro from a provincial utility to a significant exporter of renewable energy to the United States. Among the highlights of his tenure as Hydro boss:

The purchase of Centra Gas in 1999 to become the primary supplier of natural gas in the province.

The purchase of Winnipeg Hydro, a city utility, in 2002.

Power Smart: Under Brennan, Hydro ushered in a wide-ranging incentive program to encourage homes to be more energy-efficient.

Wind power: Two wind farms in southern Manitoba added power to the grid.

Increased out-of-province electrical sales, particularly to the United States.

Construction of Hydro’s new $278-million energy-efficient headquarters, which opened in 2009 on Portage Avenue.

New dams: Hydro will open its $1.6-billion Wuskwatim power-generating station near Thompson in several months. On the drawing board is the $5.5-billion Keeyask generating station (695 megawatts) scheduled to come on stream by 2019-20 and the $7.7-billion Conawapa generating station set for service by 2023-24.

The establishment of profit-sharing deals with northern aboriginal communities.