By Hudson Sangree
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday reappointed Ashutosh Bhagwat and Angelina Galiteva to their fourth three-year terms on the CAISO Board of Governors.
Bhagwat is a law professor at the University of California, Davis, where he holds an endowed chair in freedom and equality. He has written about the California electricity crisis of 2000/2001 and lectures on constitutional law.
Galiteva is president of NEOptions, a renewable energy design and development firm. She was executive director of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and head of its green energy initiative from 1997 to 2003. Galiteva is an attorney with an advanced degree in energy law.
Both have served on the ISO’s board since 2011, when then-Gov. Jerry Brown first appointed them.
In the last nine years, CAISO integrated large amounts of renewable resources, established the Western Energy Imbalance Market and, starting last year, became the reliability coordinator for much of the West.
“The executive leadership team is looking forward to working with the newly reappointed board members, and the entire Board of Governors, as we continue to refine and showcase our vision of a clean, low-carbon power grid,” CAISO CEO Steve Berberich said in a statement. “We appreciate Gov. Newsom’s engagement in the board appointment process and his confidence in our team and our mission.”
The State Senate must confirm the appointments, but Bhagwat and Galiteva will continue to serve, effective immediately. Their terms expire Dec. 31, 2022.
The five-member CAISO board also includes Chair David Olsen, who was first appointed in 2012 and reappointed in January 2019. For the decade prior to his appointment, Olsen was managing director of Western Grid Group, an organization of former state energy officials advocating for grid modernization and clean energy. He was CEO of outdoor clothing manufacturer Patagonia in the late 1990s.
Last year, Newsom appointed University of California, Berkeley business professor Severin Borenstein and business promoter Mary Leslie to the board.
Borenstein is faculty director of the Energy Institute at Berkeley’s Haas School of Business. Leslie was president of the Los Angeles Business Council since 2001 and deputy mayor of Los Angeles under Mayor Richard Riordan in the 1990s. (See Newsom Names New CAISO Governors.)