Holyoke Gas & Electric General Manager James Lavelle has been elected by the Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Electric Company Board of Directors to serve as its chairman.
Lavelle, who has been a director on MMWEC’s board since 2004, was elected to the one-year term earlier this month at an MMWEC Board meeting held in West Boylston, Mass.
Lavelle succeeds Michael Flynn, who also serves as a gubernatorial appointee on MMWEC’s board and the Town of Wilbraham representative.
Since being named HG&E general manager in 1999, Lavelle has guided it through a period of extraordinary innovation and growth, transforming the municipal utility into a model for sustainable, affordable, and reliable energy services.
Under his leadership, HG&E completed the landmark acquisition of the Holyoke Dam and Canal System, securing local hydroelectric resources and strengthening the community’s energy independence.
He also spearheaded major investments in solar generation and energy storage, helping HG&E achieve more locally sourced renewable energy and approximately 90% carbon-free power resources, well beyond Massachusetts clean energy requirements.
HG&E’s achievements under Lavelle’s tenure have earned national, regional and state recognition and designations, including from the Northeast Public Power Association, American Public Power Association, Northeast Renewable Energy Coalition, and Smart Electric Power Alliance.
MMWEC has awarded the utility with its Francis H. King Leadership Award for exceptional leadership and dedication to public power joint action. HG&E has been nationally recognized for innovation in energy storage, renewable energy development, safety, and operational excellence.
Lavelle serves on numerous professional and community boards, including MMWEC, the Municipal Electric Association of Massachusetts, the Northeast Public Power Association, PeoplesBank, the Holyoke Solar Cooperative, and the Massachusetts Clean Energy Cooperative.
Deeply committed to community service, Lavelle has also served as a trustee of Holyoke Community College, a member of the St. Jerome Parish Finance Committee, a board member of the Greater Holyoke YMCA, and a youth football and basketball coach.
"I am deeply honored by the confidence my fellow Board members have placed in me by electing me chairman of MMWEC,” said Lavelle. “For more than 50 years, MMWEC has demonstrated the power of joint action among Massachusetts' municipal utilities, enabling our communities to achieve together what none of us could accomplish alone."
As chairman, "I look forward to working closely with our members, our Board, CEO Tom Barry, and the outstanding MMWEC staff to build on that legacy of innovation, reliability, and sound financial stewardship. Together, we will continue to provide our member communities with affordable, reliable, and increasingly clean energy while positioning public power to meet the opportunities and challenges of the future."
Flynn joined the MMWEC Board as the Town of Wilbraham representative in 1998. He became one of two gubernatorial appointees in 2004, and was elected chairman in 2014.
During Flynn’s tenure as chairman, MMWEC and its Members led the way in innovation, generation and clean energy advancements, MMWEC noted.
MMWEC developed or had a hand in the development of multiple cutting-edge projects during Flynn’s tenure, including the Berkshire Wind project, Cotton Solar project, and several energy storage projects.
“MMWEC has been incredibly fortunate to have Flynn family representation on its Board of Directors going all the way back to 1998,” said MMWEC CEO Tom Barry. “Mike’s father, John M. Flynn, served on MMWEC’s Board as the Hampden representative from 1998 to 2012 and his brother, Corneilus (Neil) Flynn, continued that service from 2013 to 2021. Between Mike, his brother, and his father, that’s a combined 44 years of Flynn family representation, dedication, and support," Barry said.
"On behalf of MMWEC and its staff (past and present), I’d like to thank Chairman Flynn for his many years of devoted service to the organization and his steadfast support of public power in the Commonwealth. Personally, I’d like to thank Mike for his welcoming approach and guidance during my transition and for his contagious passion for this organization’s greater mission. We greatly look forward to Mike’s continued guidance and support going forward as one of the two current gubernatorial appointees on the MMWEC Board.”
MMWEC is a not-for-profit, public corporation and political subdivision of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts created by an Act of the General Court in 1975 and authorized to issue tax-exempt debt to finance a wide range of energy facilities.
MMWEC provides a variety of power supply, financial, risk management and other services to the state’s consumer-owned, municipal utilities. It is the largest provider of asset-owned generation for municipal light departments in New England.
