Bill Lawrence, who had served as director of the Electricity Information Sharing and Analysis Center (E-ISAC) since 2018, has returned to NERC in a new role after an unexplained three-month absence.

NERC CEO Jim Robb announced Tuesday that he had appointed Lawrence as vice president of the ERO Enterprise Security Initiative, with a mandate to develop and promote physical- and cybersecurity efforts, including sharing best practices and developing security training. He will provide support for the implementation of priorities recommended by the Reliability Issues Steering Committee (RISC) and report to Mark Lauby, NERC senior vice president and chief engineer.

“It is clear to me that cyber and physical demands on the electric sector continue to challenge the reliability of the North American grid,” Robb said in a press release. “Therefore, I am asking Vice President Bill Lawrence to take the lead in working with the regional entities to engage stakeholders in more meaningful education in this challenging arena.”

Lawrence was quoted as welcoming the new role. “I enjoyed the opportunity to direct the E-ISAC and am proud of the foundation the team has built there,” he said.

Lawrence, formerly chief security officer, was mysteriously absent in October at GridSecCon, E-ISAC’s annual conference. Robb said then that Lawrence was “taking some time off” but expected him to return. He had not returned to work as of early January.

His new post was announced two days before FERC on Thursday ordered NERC to develop performance metrics and improve oversight of the E-ISAC.

Earlier in January, NERC announced the appointment of Manny Cancel, former chief information officer for Consolidated Edison, as senior vice president and chief executive officer of the E-ISAC. (See Former Con Ed Exec to Lead E-ISAC.)

NERC said Friday “there is no relation” between FERC’s criticism and its personnel moves regarding the E-ISAC.

– Rich Heidorn Jr.