Jonathan Fortner serves as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Lignite Energy Council (LEC), where he leads the organization’s policy, regulatory, and strategic advocacy efforts in support of North Dakota’s lignite coal industry. He has been with the Lignite Energy Council since 2018 and assumed the role of President and CEO in March 2025 after previously serving as LEC’s Vice President of Government Relations and External Affairs.
In his leadership role, Fortner works closely with state and federal policymakers, regulators, utilities, and industry partners to advance policies that protect grid reliability, maintain affordable electricity, and support the workforce and communities that rely on lignite energy. His work focuses on energy reliability, tax and regulatory policy, infrastructure investment, and innovation initiatives critical to the long-term viability of baseload generation in the Upper Midwest.
In addition to his role at LEC, Fortner holds several state, regional, and federal leadership and advisory appointments. He serves as Chairman of the Lignite Research Council and as Chairman of the Environmental Review Advisory Council for the North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality, both by appointment of the Governor of North Dakota. He was also appointed to the National Coal Council by the U.S. Department of Energy Secretary and serves on the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) Advisory Committee Affiliate Sector as Vice Chairman, where he provides a voice for coal and baseload generation in the regional electricity marketplace. Through these roles, Fortner helps guide research, environmental review, and energy-market policy initiatives at the state, regional, and national levels. He also oversees LEC’s public engagement and communications efforts, including legislative outreach, member coordination, and the organization’s podcast and educational initiatives.
Fortner holds two separate master’s degrees, a Master of Business Administration and a Master of Public Administration, from the University of North Dakota. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Presentation College and completed the Leadership North Dakota program, a professional leadership development program through the University of Mary. He is also a Policy Fellow at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota.
Mike Holmes, prior to joining the Lignite Council, served as the director of Energy Systems Development at the Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC) in Grand Forks, where he oversaw fossil energy research areas. His principal areas of interest and expertise include CO2 capture; fuel processing; gasification systems for coproduction of hydrogen, fuels, and chemicals with electricity; process development and economics for advanced energy systems; and emission control technologies.
Rachelle Anderson received a bachelor’s degree in production management with a minor in economics from Utah State University. She also received a master’s degree in accounting from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Before coming to the LEC, Rachelle worked as a purchaser, a logistician, a human resource manager, a real estate agent, a tax preparer, a bookkeeper, an auditor, and a cost analyst. Rachelle joined the LEC January of 2022. Since joining the LEC, she has redone the accounting process, including changing to a paperless accounting system. Rachelle was born in Billings, MT; but her dad joined the Air Force, and she grew up all over the place, including a 4-year stay in Zaragoza, Spain. Her husband, Mathias Anderson, is a North Dakota native from Tioga. They moved to Bismarck, ND the Summer of 2006 to be closer to his family. Together they have five children.
Angie Hegre has more than 15 years of experience in the energy industry. Before she joined the Lignite Energy Council in 2019, she worked for Great River Energy as the Generation Support Coordinator. Angie worked with Senior leadership in MN and the ND executive team including the Director of ND Generation. She worked with environmental reporting requirements, and compliance record retention for regulatory and safety. She worked in-line with engineering and operations managing year-end and outage reporting. Angie was hired by the LEC in August 2019 and is the Research and Development Program Manager. She has been supporting the Lignite Research Council grant rounds to include working with the NDIC, principal investigators, technical reviewers, and technical advisor. Angie worked with the Director of the ND Transmission Authority, providing reports, presentations, and research assistance. Angie attended Central New Mexico College and lived in NM for over 20 years before moving back home to ND in 2009.
Retha Mattern was previously the Director of Admissions & Outreach, the Business & Outreach Coordinator for the BSC National Energy Center of Excellence, and Director of the Great Plains Energy Corridor. She also worked as a reporter and assistant news director for KFYR-TV, the NBC affiliate in Bismarck. Mattern also served for three years as a non-voting member of the North Dakota State Board of Higher Education. Mattern holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Maryland and a Master of Science degree in Management from Minot State University.
