Manitoba Hydro CEO decides to retire

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This article was published 17/07/2018 (2108 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

After about three years at the helm of the province’s largest and oft drama-plagued Crown corporation, the president and chief executive officer of Manitoba Hydro announced his retirement Wednesday.

Kelvin Shepherd will stay on as the utility’s leader until Nov. 16, and a search for his replacement is already underway.

In an interview with the Free Press, Shepherd said his decision to step down stems from personal reasons, not anything to do with political turmoil at Hydro — though critics believe otherwise.

“It’s really a decision my wife and I talked about for some time. We decided this fall was a good date. I turn 59 in October, and I’ve never had the ambition to work until I was 60, so it seems like a good trigger point,” he said. “I know people always look for reasons why a CEO leaves, but it’ll have been three years, and it’s the right time for me personally.”

Shepherd said he has lived in Winnipeg for about 18 years and plans to stay. He and his wife are Winnipeg Jets season-ticket holders and want to catch a few more games, he joked.

Shepherd emphasized he won’t be leaving with any severance either — but will take his pension payout and possibly some backlogged vacation time.

“I know there’s been lots of controversy about pay and severance, and I just want to be straight up and say I’m leaving voluntarily on my own terms and so I’m not owed a dime,” he said.

Hydro board chairwoman Marina James was not available for an interview Tuesday, spokesman Bruce Owen said. In a prepared statement, she praised Shepherd’s work.

“Kelvin has been an invaluable asset to both myself as the new chair of the board, and to Manitoba Hydro as a corporation. He has played an exemplary role as the CEO of this company, and on behalf of the board and the government, we want to thank Kelvin and wish him the best for a long, healthy and happy retirement,” James said.

Crown Services Minister Cliff Cullen also thanked Shepherd for his service.

“Manitoba Hydro has benefitted from his leadership, without question. Between overseeing completion of BiPole III and significant progress on Keeyask (generating station), streamlining the corporation to save over $90 million per year, as well as expanding energy exports in both Canada and the United States, Mr. Shepherd has advanced Manitoba Hydro immeasurably and all Manitobans have benefitted from the work he has done,” Cullen said in an emailed statement.

Shepherd also oversaw a voluntary employee departure program, during which 800 positions were vacated. Before joining Hydro in December 2015, he worked in senior roles at Manitoba Telecom Services (now Bell MTS Inc.) and SaskTel.

NDP Leader Wab Kinew had kind words for Shepherd, saying he found the outgoing Hydro president “very easy to talk to” and Shepherd had “a mastery over the organization.”

However, Kinew refused to believe Shepherd is retiring solely for personal reasons.

“I think this is just another sign that (Premier Brian) Pallister’s been mismanaging Hydro. It’s causing turmoil internally. We saw that with the departure of the old board,” Kinew said, referring to the mass resignation of the former Hydro board in March.

Nine of the 10 members left, citing a lack of communications with the premier as a primary reason.

“We saw (the PCs) scramble and struggle to name a new board… and now we’re seeing executives leave, which to me is a sign that our biggest Crown utility is in turmoil,” Kinew said. “And that’s not good because it puts the low rates that Manitobans have enjoyed over the last number of years in jeopardy.

“If the Pallister government can’t manage Hydro well, then Manitobans may have to pay way higher Hydro rates in the future.”

Liberal Leader Dougald Lamont said he was shocked by the “pretty alarming news” of Shepherd’s retirement, when he first heard it in the halls of the legislature.

“They won’t have a CEO of a Crown corporation with tens of billions of dollars in debt, and it appears to be rudderless,” Lamont said. “Hydro needs that firm hand at the rudder and it needs stability… You’ve lost an entire board and now you’re losing the president.”

jessica.botelho@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @_jessbu