Energy 2025: SENECHAL, KRISTEN

Following an eight-month national search, Kristen Senechal was selected to lead NOVEC, succeeding David E. Schleicher, who retired in April.

One of the nation’s largest electric cooperatives based on energy sales, NOVEC reported operating revenue of $864 million in 2023. The electric cooperative serves more than 180,000 residential and business customers in Clarke, Fairfax, Fauquier, Loudoun, Prince William and Stafford counties, as well as Manassas Park and Clifton.

For the new job, Senechal moved to Northern Virginia from Texas, where she had worked as executive vice president of transmission for the Lower Colorado River Authority, which, among other things, produces and delivers electric power. In that role, she oversaw more than 850 employees.

Senechal has an MBA from the University of Houston. Perhaps more surprising is that she also has a degree in molecular biology from the University of Texas and a doctorate in molecular biology from the University of California, Los Angeles. Before pivoting to the energy field, Senechal spent several years conducting research at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Baylor College of Medicine and MD Anderson Cancer Center.

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