Albert E. Wright was born in Healdsburg, California, in 1942, and he grew up in Cloverdale, California. In 1965, he earned a bachelor’s degree in engineering from the University of California at Berkeley. He worked as an engineer for Los Angeles Water and Power. He then relocated to Oregon and worked for the Oregon Water Resources Board during the administration of Governor Tom McCall. After McCall left office, Wright worked several other jobs in water resource management in Oregon and Washington. In 1981, he joined the Pacific Northwest Utilities Conference Committee, and became its executive director in 1985. He retired in the mid-1990s, and began a consulting business in Portland.

The Northwest Power Planning Council is a four-state regional planning body formed by Congress through the Northwest Power Act of 1980 to develop and maintain regional conservation and electric power plans and a fish and wildlife program. The council is composed of two representatives from each member state: Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Montana. The mission of the council is "to preserve the benefits of the Columbia River for future generations." The body was originally known as the Pacific Northwest Electric Power and Conservation Planning Council; the name was shortened to Northwest Power Planning Council in October 1981, and in 2003, the name was changed to the Northwest Power and Conservation Council.