The Western Energy Imbalance Market Governing Body saw one longtime member depart Wednesday as it elected a new member, chair and vice chair.

Carl Linvill, who has served on the EIM Governing Body since July 2016, decided not to seek another term and to focus on his work as a principal at the Regulatory Assistance Project.

“I enjoyed serving,” Linvill said in an email to RTO Insider. “I feel that an outstanding foundation for West-wide markets was built over my five-year tenure, and I am proud of the progress of the Western EIM. I chose to step down because I want to focus more effort on ensuring demand-side resources have the opportunity to fully contribute their capabilities to customers … to distribution utilities and to the CAISO wholesale markets.

“As always, I plan to help by serving as an objective facilitator of positive change in California and the West,” he said. “I do not plan to engage as an advocate. Rather, I plan to continue to help regulators and state energy policy leaders to build consensus around full participation of [distributed energy resources, including demand response and storage] in meeting Western clean energy, reliability and policy goals. I will continue to do this primarily from my vantage point as a principal with the Regulatory Assistance Project, where I have been serving concurrently while I served on the EIM Governing Body.”

Linvill’s colleagues elected energy attorney Jennifer Gardner to fill his spot. Gardner founded Envision Energy, an independent consultancy, last year. Previously she spent five years with environmental nonprofit Western Resource Advocates, where she directed its Regional Energy Markets Program, promoting market frameworks for decarbonization.

Gardner has served in various Western EIM leadership roles, including as a member of the EIM’s Governance Review Committee, vice chair of the Regional Issues Forum and chair of the Nominating Committee for Governing Body appointments. She also represented the EIM’s Public Interest Organization sector.

“Ms. Gardner is universally known for her market knowledge, commitment to learning and building a collaborative working relationship with all stakeholders,” said Pam Sporborg, a member of the EIM Nominating Committee and manager of the Transmission and Reliability Services Department at Portland General Electric.

Gardner could not immediately be reached for comment.

The Governing Body members also elected Vice Chair Anita Decker as their new chair, replacing John Prescott, who will remain on the Governing Body. Decker is the former executive director of the Northwest Public Power Association and COO of the Bonneville Power Administration. (See EIM Governing Body Gains Member, Loses Another.)

The chair and vice chair are rotating positions that change annually.

The members elected Robert Kondziolka as vice chair and appointed him to a second term. Kondziolka was named to the five-member Governing Body last year. He served out the term of member Travis Kavulla, who had to resign because of a job change. Kondziolka retired after four decades with Arizona’s Salt River Project. (See Western EIM Fills Last Board Vacancy.)

Kondziolka’s and Linvill’s terms expired Wednesday. The new terms for Gardner and Kondziolka run through June 30, 2024.