Southwest Power Pool Appoints Mark Bowling Director Of Compliance And Security

Southwest Power Pool (SPP) has appointed Mark Bowling as director of compliance and security.

Bowling served as a federal special agent for the past 20 years. He will oversee the company’s compliance policies and procedures, including national and regional reliability standards and tariff provisions. He also will be responsible for corporate security monitoring and response.

“Mark’s extensive federal law enforcement background and expertise in identifying and mitigating cyber threats will be extremely beneficial in leading the effort to protect our critical infrastructure assets which support the reliable operation of the bulk electric system,” said Michael Desselle, VP of process integrity and chief compliance and administrative officer.

Bowling served as a special agent in the Federal Bureau of Investigation and in the U.S. Department of Education Office of Inspector General. He has investigative experience in computer intrusion, computer fraud, counter-terrorism, national security and counter-espionage.

Prior to joining the FBI in 1995, Bowling was a naval nuclear engineering officer with the U.S. Navy for six years and an information technology consultant to General Motors for one year. He also served as a naval reserve intelligence officer specializing in maritime counter-terrorism and counter-intelligence collection and analysis during his FBI career. He served in the U.S. Navy during Operation Just Cause and Operation Desert Storm.

Bowling earned a bachelor of science in electrical engineering from John Brown University. He is a certified FBI computer intrusion and computer crime investigator and holds the System Administration for National Security Systems information security certification awarded by the National Security Agency.

SPP is a Little Rock-based regional electricity transmission operator serving members in 14 states.