John Bear joined the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) in 2004 and has more than 25 years of executive leadership in the utility industry. As Chair and Chief Executive Officer of MISO, he leads MISO’s continuous efforts to work collaboratively and transparently with its members to reliably deliver low-cost energy through efficient, innovative, operations and planning.

He is also Chair of GO15, the association of the Very Large Power Grid Operators that serves more than half of the world’s electricity demand, representing more than 75 percent of the world’s electricity demand and 3.4 billion customers on 6 continents.

Bear was recently appointed to the board of the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), a non-profit which focuses on energy and environmental research. He served on the Nuclear Energy Advisory Committee which provided input to the U.S. Department of Energy on matters related to their Nuclear Energy program.

He is a former Board member of  the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) regional entity ReliabilityFirst, and a founding board member of the Amsterdam Power Exchange (APX).

Bear graduated from Southern Methodist University with a Master of Business Administration degree and a Bachelor of Business Administration degree. He attended the INSEAD Advanced Management Program for Senior Executives.