Earley to Serve as Executive Chair of PG&E Corporation; Stavropoulos
Named President and COO of Pacific Gas and Electric Company
SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
As part of a leadership succession plan, the Board of Directors of PG&E
Corporation today elected Geisha Williams, 55, as Chief Executive
Officer and President of PG&E Corporation. Williams is currently
President, Electric of Pacific Gas and Electric Company, PG&E
Corporation’s utility subsidiary.
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Geisha Williams (Photo: Business Wire)
Tony Earley, Jr., 67, currently Chairman, CEO and President of PG&E
Corporation, was elected to serve as Executive Chair of the PG&E
Corporation Board of Directors. In addition, Nickolas (“Nick”)
Stavropoulos, 58, currently President, Gas of Pacific Gas and Electric
Company, was elected to serve as President and Chief Operating Officer
of Pacific Gas and Electric Company.
The new roles are effective March 1, 2017. The currently separate roles
of president for the gas and electric businesses are being consolidated
into the single utility president role that will be held by Stavropoulos.
“Tony Earley has been a strong hand at the helm over the past five years
and his deep industry experience has been invaluable to us as he guided
PG&E to the goal of becoming a top industry performer. Under his
leadership, PG&E implemented an integrated, risk-based planning process
that provided a road map for making PG&E a safer, stronger energy
company through a robust capital investment program, widespread process
improvements and by instilling a strong safety culture. Tony also
invested in PG&E’s human capital, attracting strong leaders to join and
stay with PG&E and mentoring Geisha Williams and Nick Stavropoulos.
Geisha and Nick are both exceptionally talented executives and we are
pleased that they will carry on the work that Tony advanced so
successfully,” said Barry Lawson Williams, independent lead director of
the PG&E Corporation Board.
Earley said, “I am very pleased with the decisions of the Boards of
Directors to move forward with this planned succession. Geisha has
demonstrated the performance and strategic vision to lead this
organization into the future. She has a long track record of success
with PG&E and in the industry. Under her leadership, PG&E has driven
record-setting improvements in electric reliability year-over-year by
transforming our electric grid with smart technology and by implementing
an industry leading emergency response capability. As a result of these
investments, Geisha's team restored power with record speed when an
earthquake hit Napa in 2014. Geisha also understands the enormous
changes that will be affecting our industry in the years ahead and has a
vision for navigating these changes successfully. Nick, who will serve
as President and COO of the utility, has successfully led a
multi-billion-dollar investment in the safety of our gas system and
strengthened PG&E’s safety culture, the success of which has earned the
utility international recognition. Geisha and Nick both have the vision,
operational focus and commitment to collaboration that will serve our
customers, communities, employees and shareholders well. Above all, they
have a shared and unequivocal commitment to the safety of the public and
our employees and contractors.”
Ms. Williams said, “I am honored to have the opportunity to lead the
extraordinary 23,000 employees of PG&E and to support their efforts to
safely serve 16 million Californians. We are in a period of tremendous
and accelerating change in our industry, driven by technology,
competitive forces and public policy objectives around clean energy. We
are well positioned for these changes and well positioned for growth
with substantial infrastructure investments focused on continuing to
enhance the safety and reliability of our system while enabling
California’s clean energy economy.”
Stavropoulos said, “We set out five years ago to become the safest and
most reliable energy company in America and we have made incredible
progress toward that goal. When it comes to safety, the job is never
done. I am absolutely committed to continuing this journey and to
supporting the efforts of PG&E’s team members while achieving new levels
of operational excellence and efficiency across the organization in
order to provide safe, reliable, affordable and clean energy to our
customers.”
Earley joined PG&E Corporation in September 2011 after 17 years with DTE
Energy. When he left DTE, he was serving as Executive Chairman. He had
previously served as Chairman, CEO and President of DTE. Prior to
joining DTE Energy, Earley served in various capacities at Long Island
Lighting Company, including President and Chief Operating Officer.
Previously, he was a partner at the Hunton & Williams law firm. In
Earley’s new capacity as Executive Chair of the Board of PG&E
Corporation, he will continue as an employee of the company, providing
counsel to senior management and supporting the leadership transition in
addition to continuing to serve on the Board.
Ms. Williams joined Pacific Gas and Electric Company in 2007 and was
named Executive Vice President, Electric Operations in 2011. She was
named President, Electric and a member of Pacific Gas and Electric
Company’s Board in 2015. In addition to her previous responsibilities
for all non-nuclear electric operations, Williams took on additional
responsibility for the enterprise-wide Customer Care organization and
the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant when she was named President,
Electric.
Before joining Pacific Gas and Electric Company, she held officer-level
positions leading electric distribution, as well as a variety of
positions of increasing responsibility in customer service, marketing,
external affairs and electric operations at Florida Power and Light
Company, the third-largest electric utility in the United States,
serving more than 4.8 million customer accounts or more than 10 million
people across nearly half of the state of Florida.
Williams holds a bachelor's degree in engineering from the University of
Miami and a master's degree in business administration from Nova
Southeastern University. A trustee of the California Academy of
Sciences, Williams also serves as the board chair for the Center for
Energy and Workforce Development, and as a director at the Edison
Electric Institute, the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations and the
Association of Edison Illuminating Companies. In addition, she is active
in Executive Women in Energy and the University of Miami President's
Council.
Stavropoulos joined Pacific Gas and Electric Company in 2011 as
Executive Vice President, Gas Operations. He was named President, Gas
and a member of Pacific Gas and Electric Company’s Board in 2015, at
which time, in addition to his previous responsibility for gas
operations, he took on responsibility for enterprise-wide Information
Technology, physical and cyber-security, safety, health and
environmental, supply chain, and the transportation and real estate
organizations. Before joining Pacific Gas and Electric Company,
Stavropoulos was Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of
U.S. Gas Distribution for National Grid, an electricity and natural gas
delivery company serving nearly 7 million customers in the northeast
United States. Earlier, Stavropoulos was President of KeySpan Energy
Delivery and held a number of other leadership roles with KeySpan’s
predecessor companies, Colonial Gas and Boston Gas.
Stavropoulos holds a bachelor of science degree in accounting from
Bentley College and an MBA from Babson College. He serves on the board
of Bentley University and has served on numerous public and
not-for-profit boards.
About PG&E Corporation
PG&E Corporation (NYSE: PCG) is a Fortune 200 energy-based holding
company headquartered in San Francisco. It is the parent company of
Pacific Gas and Electric Company, California’s largest investor-owned
utility. PG&E serves nearly 16 million Californians across a
70,000-square-mile service area in Northern and Central California. For
more information, visit www.pgecorp.com
and www.pge.com.
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Source: PG&E Corporation