Dr. Marcus A. Harris was appointed acting executive vice president and chief financial officer in July 2021 and was named to the position permanently in June 2023. 

As CFO, Harris is responsible for maintaining the financial integrity of the agency, including BPA’s $4 billion in annual revenue, $18 billion in property, plant and equipment, $15 billion in municipal debt, and a $500 million nuclear decommissioning trust fund. Harris oversees investor relations, commercial accounting, treasury, financial systems, and financial planning and analysis.

Harris previously served as the agency’s deputy chief operating officer, leading initiatives related to the hydroelectric generating projects, the Columbia Generating Station nuclear plant, the bulk transmission grid, and fish and wildlife mitigation. Prior to that, Harris served as BPA’s budget officer and in technical roles in Finance, Enterprise Risk Management and Transmission Operations. 

Harris serves on the Electric Power Research Institute’s Artificial Intelligence and Quantum Computing committee. He is active in the research community working to advance machine learning applications to improve operations and marketing on the bulk electric grid.

Harris joined BPA in 2009 as a graduate student. He has a bachelor’s degree from Vanguard University; a master’s in business administration, summa cum laude, from Willamette University; and a Ph.D. in systems science from Portland State University, where he earned the outstanding dissertation award in math, engineering and computer science.  

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