FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 15, 2021

CONTACT: Eric Barendsen, mediarelations@wapa.gov, 303-704-0765

LAKEWOOD, Colo. – The U.S. Department of Energy has announced Senior Vice President Tracey LeBeau to serve as interim Administrator and Chief Executive Officer of WAPA. The announcement followed news that Administrator and CEO Mark A. Gabriel became the new CEO of United Power after nearly eight years of service. 

LeBeau brings more than 20 years of executive experience in management, clean energy and infrastructure development, public-private partnerships, utility business operations, and federal program leadership and policy. Her business acumen and executive-level energy infrastructure experience make her uniquely qualified to advance the organization’s mission to safely provide reliable, cost-based hydropower and transmission to our customers and the communities we serve.

“It is an honor to serve WAPA in this role as we face ever-present winds of change and opportunity,” LeBeau said. “Our core mission is steadfast as is our commitment to our customers and stakeholders. WAPA has an incredible workforce, and we will continue with laser focus on our strategic priorities, guided by our core value to learn more and do better.” 

WAPA will sustain its collaborative work with strategic partners under LeBeau’s direction.

“The Colorado River Energy Distributors Association (CREDA) looks forward to continuing our collaborative relationship with Tracey LeBeau as she assumes the role of interim Administrator and CEO of WAPA,” Colorado River Energy Distributors Association Executive Director Leslie James said. “Tracey’s experience with the organization and its foundational mission makes her well-suited for this new challenge. On behalf of the CREDA members and over four million customers served by those members, we congratulate Tracey.”

Since November 2019, LeBeau has served as Senior Vice President and Regional Manager for WAPA’s Desert Southwest Region where she leads hundreds of employees and contractors in marketing and delivering reliable, cost-based hydroelectric power and related services to nearly 70 municipalities, electric cooperatives, federal and state agencies, irrigation districts and Native American tribes in the southwestern United States. The region also includes operation and maintenance of over 40 substations and 3,100 miles of high voltage transmission.

She was recognized in April as one of the Denver Business Journal’s Top Women in Energy for 2020.

LeBeau served in numerous senior leadership roles throughout WAPA including as senior vice president of the Transmission Infrastructure Program, managing WAPA’s $3.25 billion borrowing authority and loan portfolio. LeBeau also led a major reorganization in 2018 and served as WAPA’s Chief Administrative Officer until she joined the Desert Southwest Region. Before joining WAPA, LeBeau was a political appointee at the Department of Energy, standing up the Department of Energy’s Office of Indian Energy Policy and Programs, an applied energy program office, and serving as its first director. 

Prior to joining the Obama Administration, LeBeau was a principal at Dentons law firm, and the co-chair of its renewable energy practice. Over the course of her career, Tracey has served in executive capacities for numerous energy businesses, including an interstate pipeline, wind development and investment company, energy trading business and other energy development companies. 

Armed with a deep understanding of WAPA’s unique role in the western United States, LeBeau will continue to lead WAPA’s focus on its core mission and its advancement on important business priorities. The Department of Energy will undertake a recruitment and selection process for a permanent Administrator and CEO.

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About WAPA: Western Area Power Administration annually markets and transmits more than 25,000 gigawatt-hours of clean, renewable power from 57 federal hydroelectric powerplants owned and operated by the Bureau of Reclamation, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and International Boundary and Water Commission in 15 western and central states. It is part of the Department of Energy. Follow us on Twitter @WesternAreaPowr or visit the website at www.wapa.gov​.

Last modified on September 12th, 2023