By Rich Heidorn Jr.

NERC opened the new year with two big personnel announcements, introducing a new head of the Electricity Information Sharing and Analysis Center (E-ISAC) and saying farewell to retiring Trustee Dave Goulding.

Manny Cancel, who retired last month as chief information officer for Consolidated Edison, joined NERC on Tuesday as senior vice president and chief executive officer of the E-ISAC.

NERC said Cancel, who worked for Con Ed for nearly four decades, will lead the E-ISAC management team and be the center’s “key external face” before the Electricity Subsector Coordinating Council (ESCC), government and industry. He will oversee development of the revised E-ISAC Long-Term Strategic Plan.

Cancel has been active in the Member Executive Committee (MEC), an advisory group for the E-ISAC formed out of the ESCC.

“Having an executive of Manny’s stature and experience lead [the E-ISAC] is a rare and welcome opportunity,” NERC CEO Jim Robb said in a statement. “Over the last two years, the E-ISAC has built a strong foundation. … I know Manny will help us take it to the next level.”

Cancel, who has an undergraduate degree in management information systems from Baruch College and an MBA from Cornell University, serves on the advisory board of Per Scholas, a nonprofit that offers tuition-free technology training and professional development for individuals from “overlooked communities.”

Improving the capabilities of the E-ISAC is a key priority for NERC, which announced a five-year expansion plan in 2017. The center added nine full-time equivalent employees in 2019 and plans to add seven in 2020 and 14 through 2022. Its 2020 budget is almost $31.3 million, a 13.3% increase from 2019 and up from about $18.6 million in 2017.

NERC spokeswoman Kimberly Mielcarek said the revised E-ISAC strategic plan is “in the early phases” and is expected to be completed this year. “Manny and the ISAC team will work with the MEC on a timeline,” she said via email.

Cancel fills the spot that has been vacant since SVP Marcus Sachs, who formerly oversaw the E-ISAC, left NERC in December 2017. (See NERC Parts Ways with Chief Security Officer.)

Bill Lawrence took over day-to-day management of the E-ISAC with Sachs’ departure. Lawrence was promoted to vice president, chief security officer and director of the E-ISAC in August 2018.

Lawrence has apparently been away from NERC since at last October, when he was mysteriously absent at GridSecCon, E-ISAC’s annual conference. (See Robb Sees Calmer 2020 After ‘Turbulent’ Year.)

Lawrence is expected to return this month, Mielcarek said. “All I know is he took personal time off,” she said.

Search for Canadian Trustee

Meanwhile, NERC said it had begun a search for a Canadian trustee following the announcement that Goulding had retired from the Board of Trustees effective Jan. 1 after serving nearly a decade.

Goulding served as chair of the Northeast Power Coordinating Council for almost three years after retiring as CEO of Ontario’s Independent Electricity System Operator in 2006.

He graduated from the University of Bradford in England and worked in transmission and generation construction, operations, and maintenance with the U.K.’s Central Electricity Generating Board before its privatization in the 1990s.

At NERC, Goulding chaired the Enterprise-wide Risk Committee, and served on the Finance and Audit Committee and the Nominating Committee.

“Dave brought deep operational and management experience to all facets of the board’s work. He has been instrumental in revamping our Enterprise-wide Risk Committee, providing pivotal oversight of NERC’s corporate risk management program,” board Chair Roy Thilly said in a statement.

Goulding, who was traveling and unavailable for comment, said in a statement: “I will always be a proponent of the need for the unique approach NERC brings to assuring reliability of the grid.”