Nick Wagner to leave Iowa Utilities Board for position at Black Hills Energy

Nick Wagner will depart the Iowa Utilities Board in July to take a vice president-level position with Black Hills Energy, the board announced Tuesday.

He will become vice president for Colorado regulatory affairs and policy for the Rapid City, S.D.-based company next month.

'I have really enjoyed working with and have learned a tremendous amount from other board members and Iowa Utilities Board employees,” Wagner said in a statement.

Wagner, a Marion resident, is in his second term on the three-person board.

Then-Gov. Terry Branstad appointed him in 2013, and Gov. Kim Reynolds reappointed him in 2019.

Wagner received $124,378 in salary from the 2019 fiscal year, according to the Iowa State Employee Salary Book.

Before joining the Iowa Utilities Board, he was an electrical engineer, served four years on the Marion City Council and held two terms in the Iowa House of Representatives representing Marion as a Republican.

His departure leaves the board with lawyers Geri Huser and Richard Lozier. Huser's term expires in 2021. Lozier's term expires in 2023.

The utility board regulates the rates and services of electric, natural gas and water utilities, the services of communications utilities, and generally supervises all pipelines and the transmission, according to its website.

During Wagner's tenure, the board oversaw decisions involving construction of the Bakken crude-oil pipeline that now runs from North Dakota, along 346 miles through Iowa, and on to Illinois.

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