Minnesota State Society   

Bill Libro and serves as the Director of Federal Government Affairs for Minnesota Power, a subsidiary of ALLETE.

ALLETE, whose corporate headquarters are located in Duluth, Minnesota, has operations in 43 states and 9 Canadian provinces. ALLETE offers a full spectrum of services to the automotive remarketing industry and, through its Minnesota Power subsidiary, provides energy services in the upper Midwest. ALLETE's holdings include ADESA, the second largest wholesale vehicle auction network in North America; AFC, the leading provider of independent auto dealer inventory financing; Minnesota Power, a low-cost electric utility that serves some of the largest industrial customers in the United States; and significant real estate holdings in Florida.

Bill's job is to manage various federal legislative and regulatory issues that affect Minnesota Power and ALLETE's other business units, and to advocate the company's positions within the executive, legislative, and regulatory branches of our federal government.

Bill has held a variety of positions in public education, private industry, and state government. Prior to joining Minnesota Power, Bill worked for another major midwestern utility where he worked in its Washington office. He spent several years in the utility's environmental compliance area as well as two years in electric marketing and sales. Bill also worked for the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency doing environmental compliance and enforcement audits; spent six years in the iron mining industry as a chemist and industrial hygiene and safety; and has experience teaching science at the high school level. Bill has undergraduate degrees in Biology and Chemistry, and a masters degree in Organizational Management.

Bill is originally from Hibbing, Minnesota - which is located in the heart of Minnesota's Iron Range. As with most "Iron Rangers" he learned to play ice hockey at an early age - and still plays today. He credits hockey - that is learning to avoiding flying objects and people trying to hurt you - as being perfect training to be a lobbyist trying to maneuver around our nation's political landscape.

E-mail: bill@mnstatesociety.org