Board of Directors

John Bear was named President and Chief Executive Officer of MISO (Midwest ISO) on Jan. 16, 2009, after serving as President and Chief Operating Officer since January 2006. Mr. Bear has more than 20 years of executive leadership in the utility industry and is a strong proponent of market transparency and efficiency. As CEO he is leading the MISO’s efforts to create added value for all customers through reliable market operations that meet the region’s resource adequacy needs, expand transmission planning activities and foster innovation in the exploration of the region’s demand response and energy efficiency capabilities. Prior to becoming Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Bear was President and Chief Operating Officer of the MISO, overseeing the ongoing success of Midwest ISO’s market operations. He oversaw the design, construction and implementation of the Day-Ahead, Real-Time and Ancillary Services markets. Prior to joining MISO, Mr. Bear was President of the Houston-based energy Reliant Resources, where he directed all operations and commercial activity for their mid-Atlantic and mid-Continent regions. Mr. Bear served as Chief Operating Officer and Managing Director of Reliant's European operations, where he made significant contributions to the restructuring and development of the Netherlands wholesale electricity market as a board member of the Amsterdam Power Exchange (APX). Mr. Bear also is Vice President of the Very Large Power Grid Operators, an association of the 12 largest international power grid operators. He is a former member of the ReliabilityFirst Board of Directors. ReliabilityFirst is one of the eight approved Regional Entities in North America under the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC). Mr. Bear also serves as a director on the Greater Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana Regional Board of Directors of the Make-A-Wish Foundation. A native of Richardson, Texas, Mr. Bear graduated from Southern Methodist University where he earned a Master of Business Administration degree with a concentration in finance, and a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in finance and accounting. He attended the INSEAD Advanced Management Program for Senior Executives in 2009. Mr. Bear joined MISO in May 2004.

Damian began his 25-year energy career with BP’s North America Gas Performance Unit in Houston in 1998. Since then, he has held various positions of increasing responsibility in the areas of economics, planning, performance management and business development with BP, in Houston, Moscow, Jakarta, Anchorage and Denver. His current responsibilities include representing bp’s wide portfolio of low-carbon businesses in the United States, including renewable power, biofuels, hydrogen, and mobility. Damian earned his undergraduate degree in economics, and a law degree from Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska. He also earned an MBA in Finance from the University of St. Thomas in Houston.

Mung Chiang is president of Purdue University and the Roscoe H. George Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering. From July 2017 to June 2022, he was the John A. Edwardson Dean of the College of Engineering. From April 2021 to December 2022, he was the executive vice president for strategic initiatives. Previously, Chiang was the Arthur LeGrand Doty Professor of Electrical Engineering at Princeton University, where he was the inaugural chairman of the Princeton Entrepreneurship Council and director of the Keller Center for Innovation in Engineering Education. He helped launch entrepreneurial programs at Princeton and was named a New Jersey CEO of the Year (2014). He received a BS (Honors) in electrical engineering and in mathematics and an MS and PhD in electrical engineering from Stanford University. As a teacher, Chiang received the Distinguished Teaching Award in Engineering (2016) at Princeton University for creating an interdisciplinary undergraduate course, flipping the classroom, and teaching one of the university’s first massive open online courses, which has been taught to over 400,000 people. His textbook “Networked Life” (Cambridge University Press, 2012) received the ASEE Frederick Emmons Terman Award (2013) and an Association of American Publishers PROSE Award (2012). He has advised more than 50 PhD students and postdoctoral researchers, including 24 who have become faculty in research universities. As an inventor and entrepreneur, Chiang has 25 U.S. patents, most of which have been licensed and deployed by the communications and networking industry. He co-founded three startup companies in mobile networks, artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things, based on the research at Princeton’s EDGE Lab, and co-founded a global nonprofit, the OpenFog Consortium, now part of the global Industrial Internet Consortium. He was the founding CEO of Datami, which has served over 60 million users around the world in bridging the digital divide. As a diplomat and policymaker, Chiang was the science and technology advisor to the U.S. secretary of state and initiated the U.S. government’s tech diplomacy programs. Since returning from Washington, D.C., in 2020, he co-founded the Krach Institute of Tech Diplomacy at Purdue and serves as the technology and innovation advisor to the state of Indiana.

Nick Cohen is the President, CEO and Co-Founder of Doral Renewables LLC (formerly Global Energy Generation),, leading developer of utility-scale renewable energy projects. Nick has 18-years of global experience leading energy project development. For 9 years, he served as Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of EmberClear, a developer of utility-scale energy projects. Before co-founding Doral Renewables LLC, Mr. Cohen managed the development of energy and desalination projects for Chicago-based Invenergy, a leading developer, owner-operator of renewables. Mr. Cohen earned a BS in Business Administration from Drexel University and an MBA from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business.

Joseph W. Craft III has been President, Chief Executive Officer ("CEO"), and Director of Alliance Resource Partners, L.P. since August 1999, and Chairman of the Board of Directors since January 1, 2019. Previously, Mr. Craft served as President of MAPCO Coal Inc. since 1986. During that period, he also was Senior Vice President of MAPCO Inc. and had previously been that company's General Counsel and Chief Financial Officer. He is a Director of the National Mining Association and a Director and former Chairman of America's Power. Mr. Craft is a Director and former Chairman of the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce. He has been a Director of BOK Financial Corporation (NASDAQ: BOKF) since 2007 and Chairman of its compensation committee since 2014. Mr. Craft holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting and a Juris Doctorate degree from the University of Kentucky. Mr. Craft also is a graduate of the Senior Executive Program of the Alfred P. Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Megan joined The Heritage Group in January 2021 and serves as the Vice President of External Affairs. Megan’s role at THG is multifaceted. She advises portfolio companies on how government policies might affect their business, provides mentorship to startups going through The Heritage Group Accelerator and builds The Heritage Group relationship with external parties. Prior to joining The Heritage Group, Megan served the Hoosier state for 9 years on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.; 6 of which were spent as Congresswoman Susan Brooks’s Chief of Staff. Additionally, she served as Republican Counsel to the Ethics Committee during the #MeToo era. Prior to that, she was Legislative Director for Rep. Brooks. Prior to her time in D.C., Megan was a Deputy Prosecuting Attorney in Marion County. Megan is a graduate of Brebeuf Jesuit High School, American University, and IU McKinney School of Law. Megan is a member of Indianapolis Business Journal’s Forty Under 40 Class of 2022. Megan and her husband, Cam, reside in Indianapolis with their three sons, Luke, Huck and Stone. When not working or chasing after her kids, she enjoys hot yoga, concerts and cooking.

Mitch Daniels is an American academic administrator, businessman, author, and retired politician who served as the 12th president at Purdue University. Prior to serving at Purdue University, Daniels was elected Indiana’s 49th governor in 2004 and then re-elected in 2008 with more votes than any governor in the state's history. In recognition of his leadership as both a governor and a university president, Daniels was named among the Top 50 World Leaders by Fortune Magazine in 2015 and was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2019.

Tom Linebarger became Chairman and CEO of Cummins Inc., the largest independent maker of diesel engines and related products in the world, on January 1, 2012.  Prior to becoming Chairman and CEO, he served as President and COO from 2008 to 2011, Executive Vice President and President, Power Generation Business from 2003 to 2008, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer from 2000 to 2003, and Vice President, Supply Chain Management from 1998 to 2000.

Amory B. Lovins is the Rocky Mountain Institute's Cofounder, Chairman, and Chief Scientist. RMI is an independent, entrepreneurial, nonprofit organization that fosters the efficient and restorative use of resources to make the world secure, just, prosperous, and life-sustaining. The Institute's staff shows businesses, communities, individuals, and governments how to create more wealth and employment, protect and enhance natural and human capital, increase profit and competitive advantage, and enjoy many other benefits - largely by doing what they do far more efficiently. Lovins is a consultant experimental physicist educated at Harvard and Oxford. He has received an Oxford MA (by virtue of being a don), ten honorary doctorates, a MacArthur Fellowship, the Blue Planet, Volvo, Heinz, Lindbergh, Right Livelihood ("Alternative Nobel"), World Technology, and Time Hero for the Planet awards, the Benjamin Franklin and Happold Medals, and the Nissan, Shingo, Mitchell, Jean Meyer, and Onassis Prizes. He is an honorary member of the American Institute of Architects, Foreign Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences, Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and Honorary Senior Fellow of the Design Futures Council. He has lately led the redesign of over $30 billion worth of facilities in 29 sectors for radical energy and resource efficiency. He has briefed 19 heads of state, held several visiting academic chairs (most recently the 2007 MAP/Ming Professorship at Stanford), written 29 books and hundreds of papers, and consulted for scores of industries and governments worldwide. The Wall Street Journal named Mr. Lovins one of 39 people worldwide "most likely to change the course of business in the '90s"; Newsweek has praised him as "one of the Western world's most influential energy thinkers"; and Car magazine ranked him the 22nd most powerful person in the global automotive industry.

Gen. Victor E. (“Gene”) Renuart Jr. is a retired United States Air Force four-star general. He was the Commander of the North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command, Peterson Air Force Base, Colo. The general entered the Air Force in 1971 following graduation from Indiana University. He was commissioned through the Officer Training School in 1972. He has commanded a NATO support group and two fighter wings. He served as Commander of the 76th Fighter Squadron during operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, and supported Operation Deny Flight as Director of Plans for the NATO Combined Air Operations Center at Headquarters 5th Allied Tactical Air Force. In addition, he commanded Joint Task Force-Southwest Asia and 9th Air and Space Expeditionary Task Force-Southwest Asia, responsible for control of Operation Southern Watch. The general has served as the U.S. Central Command Director of Operations, wherein he oversaw the planning and execution of all joint and allied combat, humanitarian assistance and reconstruction operations for operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. He also served as Vice Commander, Pacific Air Forces, where he was responsible for Air Force and Air Component Command activities for the Commander, U.S. Pacific Command. The general has flown combat missions in operations Desert Storm, Deny Flight, Northern Watch and Southern Watch. Prior to assuming his current position, General Renuart was the Senior Military Assistant to the Secretary of Defense, Washington, D.C. He served as the principal immediate office adviser to the Secretary in all matters pertaining to the department.