SRP Names McKell Purnell New Chief Human Resources Executive
McKell Purnell has joined Salt River Project (SRP) as the company’s new Associate General Manager and Chief Human Resources Executive.
Most recently, Purnell served as Vice President of Human Capital for the Omaha Public Power District (OPPD), where she had worked since 2018. In that previous role, she led a 10-year workforce transformation roadmap to position OPPD for successful growth, introduced skills-based hiring, and championed a holistic approach to culture. Prior to her time at OPPD, Purnell held a leadership position at Grant Thornton LLP.
“SRP’s workforce is at the heart of everything we do,” said Jim Pratt, SRP General Manager and Chief Executive Officer. “McKell’s expertise in the utility sector, along with her extensive education and passion for learning and development and process improvement, make her especially qualified to lead SRP’s Human Resources team.”
Purnell holds a Master of Actuarial Science from Georgia State University and a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and Computer Science from University of the West Indies.
SRP is a community-based, not-for-profit public power utility and the largest electricity provider in the greater Phoenix metropolitan area, serving about 1.2 million customers. SRP provides water to about 2.5 million Valley residents, delivering 260 billion gallons of water (800,000 acre-feet) each year, and manages a 13,000-square-mile watershed that includes an extensive system of reservoirs, wells, irrigation laterals, and 131 miles of canals.