Mike Hummel told the Salt River Project Board of Directors on Monday that he will be retiring in May.

Hummel is approaching his fifth year as general manager, and he has spent 41 years with the Tempe-based utility company.

“Mike has led us through a major sustainable transformation in his time as the general manager and CEO of SRP,” SRP president David Rousseau said.

“Under Mike’s leadership, SRP implemented an industry-leading sustainability plan and has taken aggressive steps towards decarbonizing our power system while maintaining reliability and affordability.

"In addition, with Mike’s strategic guidance, SRP continued to innovate new ways to uphold a resilient water supply for the Valley. As a company and a community, we’ve had the good fortune to have him lead SRP at a critical time.”

The SRP board will conduct a  search to fill his role with support from executive search firm Korn Ferry, a release stated, adding it expects to identify a new general manager before Hummel’s retirement.