SPP has hired former FERC senior staffer Leonard Tao to serve as its first director of FERC policy, the RTO announced in a press release.
Tao will be based in D.C., overseeing FERC filings and working with federal government leaders on energy issues on behalf of SPP, effective Jan. 19.
“He will be a tremendous resource to SPP and our members as we move to a full-time presence in Washington, D.C.,” said Paul Suskie, the grid operator’s executive vice president of regulatory policy and general counsel.
“I am thrilled to join SPP at this exciting time as it moves forward with its Western real-time balancing market and transmission plans that will bring significant benefits to consumers,” Tao said.
Tao has more than 30 years of experience working on energy policy matters. As director of FERC’s Office of External Affairs he managed strategic communications with Congress, the states, consumers and industry. He was also a legal adviser to FERC Chairman Joseph Kelliher and represented the commission as a senior legal adviser in the Office of the General Counsel. The latter responsibilities included standards of conduct for transmission providers.
SPP told RTO Insider that with the industry’s continued evolution and constant change in Washington, this was the right time to join all the other multistate RTOs in maintaining a permanent presence near Capitol Hill.
He previously served as an attorney in the Office of Legal Counsel to the U.S. president and as an administrative hearing officer in the U.S. Department of Energy. He is a graduate of George Washington University Law School and earned an undergraduate degree in economics from the University of Illinois.
