Branndon Kelley, Senior Vice President of Strategy and Innovation & Chief Strategy Officer of American Municipal Power Inc., has been elected Chair of the Hometown Connections Inc. Board of Directors.
HCI is a national, non-profit utility services organization with a mission to provide innovative, industry-leading solutions in a cost-effective manner to meet the unique needs of community-owned utilities. AMP is a joint owner of HCI.
“Branndon has long represented the interests of AMP and our Members on the HCI Board, and we are pleased to see he has been elected Board Chair,” said Jolene Thompson, AMP President/CEO. “He has provided AMP with years of leadership and vision, and the owners and affiliates of HCI will benefit from his skill and expertise.”
Kelley has served with AMP since 2009 and he has more than 25 years of experience providing vision, leadership, governance and execution of technology and strategic programs, projects and departments.
His diverse background includes leading the development of enterprise technology and innovative solutions in a wide variety of business environments, including technology, education, government, financial services, energy, healthcare and manufacturing, AMP noted.
“I am honored to accept the chairmanship of the Hometown Connections Board,” Kelley said. “My commitment to the public power business model is stronger than ever, and I am eager to continue working alongside the other partners and affiliates at HCI to ensure that community-owned utilities have the tools they need to thrive in a rapidly changing energy landscape.”
In addition to serving on the HCI Board, Kelley serves on the board of the Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative and as president of the Board of Directors of the DeVry Scholarship Fund.
He has received many industry honors in recent years, including the comSpark Central Ohio Tech Power Player Award in 2018 and 2019, the 2015 Frost and Sullivan CIO Impact Award; being named to CDO Magazine’s Top 50 Data Changemakers in the Energy Sector in 2025; a 2021 Energy Central “Leader in Innovation;” the 2017 class of Smart Business Magazine’s Central Ohio Smart 50 and to the Top 20 Most Innovative CIOs list in 2014.
Prior to joining AMP, Kelley held senior management and executive roles at Quick Solutions, Inc. (now Fusion alliance), HP, EDS, Saber Corp., and has spent more than nine years as an adjunct professor at local colleges.
Hometown Connections noted that Randy Howard, General Manager of the Northern California Power Agency (NCPA) and Chair of the HCI Board of Directors since 2018, has announced his retirement effective March 2026.
Following a unanimous vote by the Board of Directors on January 11, 2026, the leadership role was passed to Kelley.
