President & CEO

Kevin M. Gaden

Kevin M. Gaden has been in the electric utility business since 1987 in various operational, power marketing and executive leadership roles.

Gaden serves as President & CEO and oversees the operations of the Illinois Municipal Electric Agency (IMEA), the Illinois Public Energy Agency (IPEA) and the Illinois Municipal Utilities Association (IMUA).   He has held that position since January 2012.

Currently, Gaden serves on the Management Committee of Prairie State Generating Company (PSGC).  PSGC is comprised of a two unit 1,600 megawatt coal-fired power plant and adjacent underground coal mine. IMEA has a 15.17 % ownership share in the overall project, which when complete, will be one of the cleanest coal-fired generating facilities in the U.S.

Before coming to the IMEA, Gaden served as the Director of Wholesale Electric Operations of the Municipal Energy Agency of Nebraska (MEAN), which is the wholesale electricity supply organization of Nebraska Municipal Power Pool (NMPP Energy).

As Director of Wholesale Electric Operations, Gaden was responsible for the overall operations of MEAN real time and short-term energy scheduling and trading operations, as well as MEAN’s resource development and acquisitions. He led the Managing Agent functions and served as Board Chair for the Whelan Energy Center Unit #2 project, a 220 MW coal-fired electric generating unit near Hastings, Nebraska.  He was also MEAN’s primary contact for many outside organizations that impacted MEAN and its member utilities’ operations and overall delivered power cost, which included such things as supplemental power resources, transmission, sub-transmission arrangements and operating reserves in Mid-Continent Area Power Pool (MAPP), the Southwest Power Pool (SPP) and Western Electric Coordinating Council (WECC).

While at MEAN, Gaden actively participated on various national and regional committees and boards and belonged to such associations as the Rocky Mountain Reserve Group, the Rocky Mountain Generation Cooperative, the Loveland Area Customers Association, the Utility Wind Integration Group (UWIG) and the American Public Power Association. Gaden served as President of the Loveland Area Customers Association and as chair of the Rocky Mountain Reserve Group Board.

On the national level, Gaden served as National Chair of the American Public Power Association’s Energy Services Subcommittee in 1995, as the National Chair of the APPA Energy/Customer Services & Communications Section in 1997 and as chair of the APPA’s Demonstration of Energy-Efficient Developments (DEED) Program Board of Directors in 2004-06.

Prior to becoming MEAN’s Director of Wholesale Electric Operations, Gaden served in many functions in his tenure at NMPP Energy, including Director of Energy Supply, Manager of Key Accounts and Director of Technical Services. 

Gaden holds a B.S. degree in construction management from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and holds a Master’s degree in community and regional planning from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.