The CAISO Board of Governors on Thursday elected a new chair and vice chair from among its members and praised outgoing Chair Ashutosh Bhagwat, who is leaving the board after 12 years of service.
Mary Leslie | LABC
The board named Mary Leslie to serve as its chair and Jan Schori as vice chair starting Jan. 1, continuing its practice of rotating leaders annually.
Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed Leslie to the CAISO board in 2019. She is the longtime president of the Los Angeles Business Council, a group that works with businesses, government and nonprofits to shape city policy. She was the deputy mayor of Los Angeles under Mayor Richard Riordan from 1994 to 1995 and a commissioner at the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power from 2001 to 2003.
“This is an exciting time to be on the ISO Board of Governors as we transition to a carbon-free power system and enhanced regional coordination throughout the West, and I am honored to have been chosen by my colleagues to serve as the chair,” Leslie said in a statement after the vote.
Jan Schori | © RTO Insider LLC
Newsom appointed Schori to the CAISO board in February 2021 following her tenure as a NERC trustee for 12 years, the maximum allowed. From 1984 to 2008, Schori worked for the Sacramento Municipal Utility District, one of the nation’s largest municipal utilities, including as its CEO and general manager, general counsel and staff attorney.
Governor Angelina Galiteva, CAISO’s first female board chair, called the election of Leslie and Schori “yet another historic moment in the history of the board of the California ISO.”
“For the very first time, due to this rotation that we’ve implemented on an annual basis, we have a female chair and a female vice chair, which has never happened before,” Galiteva said.
Newsom next will have to fill the seat left vacant by current CAISO board Chair Bhagwat, whom former Gov. Jerry Brown first appointed in April 2011. Bhagwat, a University of Davis Law School professor, plans to leave the board by the end of February or as soon as Newsom names a successor.
Ashutosh Bhagwat | UC Davis School of Law
The board plans a formal sendoff for Bhagwat early next year but recognized his service and recent tenure as chair at Thursday’s board meeting.
“Can I be as bold as to take a moment to thank you for your leadership this last year and express our deep sorrow at your family getting to spend more time with you?” Leslie said, prompting laughter. “You will be sorely missed.”
Bhagwat thanked the ISO’s board, management, staff and its stakeholder community.
“It has been a truly fantastic 12-year run, like nothing else I’ve had in my life,” he said. “I’ve enjoyed it thoroughly.”