Faces of the Diversion: Luke Chenery

Luke Chenery: [00:00:14] Hello, my name is Luke Chenery. I’m the chief executive of Red River Valley Alliance, which is the P3 company building the diversion channel here in North Dakota.

[00:00:25] I heard about this role through an executive recruitment firm. They contacted me in 2024 partly because I was performing a similar role for another investor on a project in New York. I didn’t know a lot about the project and I didn’t know a lot about North Dakota, so I started here in March of this year and it’s been wonderful. I’ve really enjoyed my time in Fargo and in North Dakota.

[00:00:52] Our role as the P3 developer is all-encompassing. We finance the project, we design, we build, and ultimately we operate and maintain the project for 30 years. Clearly, we outsource the design and construction to a construction company called ASN Constructors. So they will build the project for a 5-year project—has about one more year to go—and then RRVA is responsible for operations for 30 years.

[00:01:21] Some of the challenges of coming into the project when it was fairly well advanced from a design and construction perspective… I had to learn the project, I obviously had to learn a lot of the contractual obligations of the P3 company. But the challenges have really just been getting up to speed very quickly because the project is moving very quickly forward. We are about 3/4 of the way finished from a construction perspective. We do want to finish the project in October of 2026 to be ready for the flood season of spring of ’27.

[00:01:57] It’s a really interesting project because we actually don’t know when the project will be used. Clearly the bridges will be used each and every day by the people of the area, but the diversion channel itself, it’s a little unknown when we will use it. But what we do know is that we will provide flood protection for the people of Fargo forever.

[00:02:16] I’ve heard the devastating impacts of the flooding in this region, and from 2027 onward we remove that risk to the people of Fargo and we feel very, very proud about that. The most rewarding part of the project is really just the people. I’ve really enjoyed working with the people. We have a world-class team here.

[00:02:57] The number one thing I want the public to know is that being a P3 project, this project is being invested in by long-term private investors. And we’re here for the right reasons. We’re here to provide flood protection for the people of Fargo for generations. The infrastructure we’re building will last many, many generations… 100 years or more. And we’re very proud of that fact.