NERC has selected Michael Ball, senior vice president and chief security officer at Berkshire Hathaway Energy, to replace Manny Cancel as CEO of the Electricity Information Sharing and Analysis Center (E-ISAC) and senior vice president at NERC, the ERO said March 24. 

Ball will take over effective April 14, with Cancel planning to remain with the E-ISAC as an adviser until May 30, according to NERC’s press release. 

The ERO began the search for a new E-ISAC head in April 2024, after Cancel announced he would retire in early 2025. (See NERC’s Cancel, Hoptroff to Retire in 2025.) NERC CEO Jim Robb said Ball’s “experience working with the E-ISAC over the years coupled with his relationships and reputation with industry leaders and key government agencies will provide us with the skills needed to continue maturing and elevating our E-ISAC capabilities.” 

Ball has been with Berkshire Hathaway for 27 years, most recently leading a security team focused on strategic global cyber and physical security policies and practices. Previous roles at the utility include leading its company-wide risk management program and the quality assurance and business continuity teams at PacifiCorp. 

“I’ve had the privilege of protecting critical infrastructure throughout my 27 years at Berkshire Hathaway Energy,” Ball said. “I’m honored to carry that mission forward on a broader scale, supporting industry as a whole and the key services that our members and stakeholders provide to their communities.” 

Ball will take over the E-ISAC at a time of ongoing online pressure against North American utilities. In a recent filing, NERC told FERC that North American utilities reported three cyber intrusion attempts in 2024 that showed “an increased level of sophistication” on the part of the perpetrators. (See related story, ERO Says 2024 Cyber Incidents Showed “Sophistication”.) 

In recent months, the E-ISAC and its counterparts for other industries have had to work without a leader at the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), which is charged with identifying and managing risks to U.S. cyber and physical infrastructure. The agency’s previous director, Jen Easterly, resigned prior to President Trump’s inauguration. 

Trump recently nominated Sean Plankey, former Coast Guard officer and head of cyber policy at the National Security Council, to head CISA. The Senate has not yet acted on Plankey’s nomination. 

Cancel joined the E-ISAC in 2020, taking over from Bill Lawrence. Before joining the ERO, he was chief information officer at Con Edison. Cancel has represented the industry before Congress and in other forums, such as the ERO’s annual GridSecCon security conference, and has overseen the past two iterations of the biennial GridEx security exercise. 

During Cancel’s term at the E-ISAC, North American utilities have seen a marked increase in physical threats to grid reliability, as well as danger to electric equipment. Some of the threat actors have political motivations, such as the neo-Nazi leader who allegedly plotted to damage substations in Baltimore to start a race war. Other attackers have smaller-scale goals, like the men accused of damaging electric facilities in Washington state to cover up a burglary.