Northern Virginia Electric Cooperative President and CEO David E. Schleicher recently announced his retirement effective April 1, 2025.
 
NOVEC’s Board of Directors Chairman Wade C. House said, “The Board sincerely thanks Dave for his leadership. We appreciate his vision, expertise and passion that successfully guided NOVEC through many issues facing the electric industry, while building upon our history of service reliability, financial soundness, and customer satisfaction. We wish Dave all the best in his retirement.”
 
During Schleicher’s three-year tenure as president and CEO, NOVEC attained the lowest regulated residential rates and best reliability metrics in Virginia. Energy sales grew 66% to 12.2 billion kilowatt hours, making NOVEC the largest electric cooperative in the nation based on retail energy sales. Net margins increased 39% to $46 million. Asset value grew 36% to $1.5 billion. Schleicher also realigned NOVEC’s workforce to better respond to the rapid data center growth across its service territory, while ensuring reliability and affordability for its residential and small commercial members.
 
“It’s an exciting and challenging time for the electric service industry in Virginia. We’ve found innovative ways to meet the record demand to build new infrastructure, but we haven’t yet solved the electric generation shortfall,” Schleicher said. “It has been a privilege to lead such a dynamic and committed team as we have at NOVEC, and I thank the Board for that opportunity. We’ve set a high bar to provide quality service to all of our members every day, to be a great place for employees to work, and to be a valued member of our communities.”
 
Schleicher retires with more than 45 years of combined experience with investor- and member-owned electric utilities. He joined NOVEC in February 2017 and formerly served as its chief operating officer and vice president of administration, substations and telecommunications. He also held leadership positions at EnergyUnited EMC in North Carolina and PPL Electric Utilities in Pennsylvania. Schleicher holds a B.S. in electrical engineering from Drexel University and an MBA in operations management from the University of Scranton. He is a registered professional engineer.
 
NOVEC’s Board of Directors unanimously selected Kristen Senechal to succeed Schleicher, effective April 2, 2025. Senechal joins the cooperative from Lower Colorado River Authority in Austin, Texas where she was executive vice president of transmission, and chief operating officer for LCRA’s Transmission Services Corporation.
 
NOVEC, headquartered in Manassas, Virginia, is a not-for-profit corporation that provides electricity to more than 180,000-metered customers in Fairfax, Fauquier, Loudoun, Prince William, Stafford, and Clarke Counties, the City of Manassas Park and the Town of Clifton. For more information, visit novec.com. NOVEC is an equal opportunity provider and employer.