Energy 2025: HEWA, JOHN D.

In 2017, Hewa joined the member-owned utility as vice president and chief operating officer. Three years later, he took the helm of the Rappahannock Electric Cooperative following the retirement of Kent Farmer, who’d worked there for more than four decades.

In addition to leading the cooperative that today provides electricity to nearly 182,000 connections across parts of 22 Virginia counties, Hewa is also CEO of Hyperscale Energy Services, an REC affiliate that serves large data center members, and president and CEO of BrilliT, an REC subsidiary that provides cybersecurity, data analytics and IT services to REC and other cooperatives.

Earlier in his career, Hewa worked at cooperatives in Florida and Texas. He also served as the vice president of research, engineering and technical services at the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association in Arlington County.

In addition to an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering and a master’s degree in engineering management from the University of Tennessee, Hewa earned a doctorate in engineering from George Washington University.

Hewa serves on the boards of the Virginia Economic Development Partnership and the Virginia Chamber of Commerce.

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