FOUNDER, CEO

Brad Viator serves as CEO of b strategic’s advisory services focused on guiding clients through complex legislative, regulatory, and media challenges. In addition, Brad and his team help clients build strategic public affairs campaigns to influence and communicate with a wide range of external audiences, including organized labor, environmental NGOs, state and federal elected officials and regulators, and local community organizations.

Before launching b strategic, Brad served as Vice President of External Affairs at The Edison Electric Institute (EEI), the national trade association representing America’s investor-owned electric utilities. In that role, Brad led both federal and state external engagement, including advocating for America’s largest electric companies with elected lawmakers and regulatory officials. At EEI, he oversaw the association’s PowerPAC, as well as managed labor relations, and local and community affairs. 

During his tenure at EEI, Brad launched a program at Georgetown University called The Campaign Institute that teaches senior electric company officials how modern campaigns work and the tools and tactics required to win in those engagements.

Before working at EEI, Brad led political engagement in the Western US at the National Association of Realtors. Earlier in his career, he worked on numerous political campaigns for candidates at the local, state, and federal levels. 

A Texas native, Brad earned his Bachelor of Science in Political Science from Texas A&M University. He serves on the board of the Bipartisan Leadership Project and coaches youth sports.

VP, ENERGY POLICY & RESEARCH

As Vice President of Energy Policy & Research, Alison Williams provides b strategic’s clients with strategic guidance and decision making on the industry’s most pressing challenges, including utility growth and planning, customer programs and rates, markets, and wildfire management and mitigation. She specializes in state regulatory strategy and execution, lending her 20 years of industry experience to support clients’ unique regulatory and business needs. Alison also leads b strategic’s research team, overseeing state-level trends analysis of regulation and legislation related to the electric industry.   

Prior to joining b strategic, Alison held key leadership positions at Idaho Power Company, where she developed regulatory strategy and served as an expert witness before state public utility commissions. Her career also includes significant tenures at the Edison Electric Institute, where she directed state regulatory policy and engaged with regulatory bodies across more than two dozen states, and the U.S. Department of Energy, where she ran a national energy system model to develop federal energy policies. Alison’s additional energy sector experience includes time as an energy analyst at Bloomberg Government, and energy and environment-focused research at two Washington, DC-based think tanks: the World Resources Institute and the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars. 

Alison received her Masters in Public Policy from American University in Washington, DC, with a concentration in energy and natural resource economics. She earned her Bachelor’s degree from the University of California at Davis in Political Science. 

Based in beautiful Boise, Idaho, Alison serves on the Board of Trustees at Foothills School of Arts & Sciences, an independent school located in downtown Boise. She also serves as a Girl Scout Troop Leader. Beyond work and volunteerism, she enjoys time in the mountains with her family outside cell phone range, playing the piano, solving Wordle in three, and building her collection of vintage vinyl.