Saint Paul, Minn. The Midwest Reliability Organization (MRO) Board of Directors approved the 2025-28 Strategic Plan last week, emphasizing the importance of collaboration, coordination, and increased engagement with increasingly diverse stakeholders. This plan reflects the international and evolving nature of MRO’s mission to protect the reliability and security of the regional bulk power system over the next four years.
The strategy focuses on three high-level priorities:
- People – Ensure that MRO remains an innovative, resilient, and high-performing organization with requisite expertise and leadership to navigate the challenges and opportunities of a rapidly transforming grid.
- Processes – Implement high standards of operational excellence in everything we do, emphasizing effectiveness and efficiency to deliver utmost value to our stakeholders.
- Partnerships – Foster an agile, adaptive, and collaborative relationship with internal and external stakeholders to effectively coordinate efforts to reduce risk and enhance reliability and security of the North American bulk power system.
The draft ERO Enterprise Long-Term Strategy, which was endorsed by all six Regional Entity boards and is slated for NERC board approval in December, laid the foundation for MRO’s strategic planning efforts. The long-term strategy focuses on four high-level risk areas: Energy, Security, Engagement, and Agility & Sustainability.
“A lot of thought went into considering how MRO can help advance broader ERO Enterprise goals and initiatives to ensure we are all rowing in the same direction,” said President and CEO Sara Patrick. “This alignment benefits our members and stakeholders by helping us focus on pressing issues, capitalize on investment opportunities, and make informed decisions on resource allocation and budgeting.”
Along with the 2025-28 Strategic Plan, MRO is launching new Core Values: Connection, Curiosity, Commitment, and Competency. These values represent the behaviors needed to successfully execute the strategic plan by influencing daily actions, decision-making, and organizational culture. Collectively, these values are key to MRO’s sustainable success, empowering the entire team to fulfill MRO’s vision and mission.
As part of the ERO Enterprise, MRO is at the forefront of an evolving energy landscape that requires a proactive, agile, and forward-thinking strategy. Patrick added, “this is an exciting time for MRO, and I am confident that this strategic plan sets us on a path to success.”
To learn more: 2025-28 Strategic Plan ׀ Strategic Plan At-A-Glance
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Midwest Reliability Organization (MRO) is a non-profit organization dedicated to the reliability and security of the bulk power system in the central region of North America, including parts of both the United States and Canada. MRO is one of six regional entities in North America operating under authority from regulators in the United States through a delegation agreement with the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) and in Canada under similar arrangements. The primary focus of MRO is monitoring and enforcing compliance with mandatory reliability standards and assessing the grid’s ability to meet growing electricity demand.