Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Page 10
Governor Taps Two Attorneys for Public Utilities Commission
By a MetNews Staff Writer
Gov. Jerry Brown yesterday announced his selection of San Francisco attorney Michel P. Florio and Santa Clara Law School Professor Catherine J. Kissee-Sandoval to serve as members of the Public Utilities Commission.
The governor also selected Robert Weisenmiller to serve as chair of the California Energy Commission and Carla Peterman as a member.
Nomination to both of these commission requires Senate confirmation and the compensation is $128,109.
Florio, 58, has worked as the senior attorney for The Utility Reform Network, a consumer advocacy group, since 1978. He is also a member of the California Conference of Public Utility Counsel and served on the governing board of the California Independent System Operator from 1997 through 2005.
The attorney holds degrees in political science and sociology from Bowling Green State University in Ohio, a Masters of Public Affairs from Princeton University, and a law degree from New York University. He joined the State Bar in 1978.
Kissee-Sandoval, 50, has worked as an associate professor at Santa Clara University School of Law since 2004.
She previously served as undersecretary and senior policy advisor for housing with the Business, Transportation and Housing Agency from 2001 to 2004. Prior to this, Kissee-Sandoval was vice president and general counsel with Z-Spanish Media Corporation from 1999 to 2001 and was the director of the Office of Communications Business Opportunities for the Federal Communications Commission from 1994 to 1999.
The attorney began her legal career as an associate with Munger, Tolles & Olson from 1991 to 1994 after a year clerking for Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Dorothy W. Nelson.
Kissee-Sandoval attended Yale University and Stanford Law School. She also earned a Master of Letters in political science from Oxford, where she was a Rhodes Scholar. The attorney was admitted to practice in 1991 but has been inactive since 2002.
Weisenmiller, 62, of Berkeley, served as a member of the energy commission last year and, if confirmed by the Senate, will serve as chair of the energy commission at the conclusion of the current chair’s term, effective February 6.
He was a co-founder and executive vice president of MRW & Associates from 1986 to 2010 and was a co-founder and executive vice president of Independent Power Corporation from 1982 to 1986.
From 1977 to 1982, Weisenmiller was an assistant to a commissioner, manager of the Special Projects Office and director of the Office of Policy Development and Program Evaluation with the California Energy Commission.
Weisenmiller holds a doctorate degree in chemistry and a master’s degree in energy and resources from the UC Berkeley and a bachelor’s in chemistry from Providence College.
Peterman, 32, of Oakland, is a doctoral candidate at UC Berkeley and currently serves on the board of directors for the Utility Reform Network.
She has conducted extensive research on solar photovoltaic markets and climate change, including co-authoring a series of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory publications on cost and deployment trends in the U.S. solar photovoltaic market. Peterman has also conducted research at the University of California Energy Institute at Haas since 2006 and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory from 2008 to 2010.
From 2004 to 2005 , Peterman was a business analyst with Isles and was an associate focused on energy financing in the investment banking division of Lehman Brothers from 2002 to 2004.
Peterman holds a bachelor’s degree in history from Howard University, a master’s degree in environmental change and management and a business degree from Oxford University, where she was a Rhodes Scholar.
Weisenmiller is registered decline-to-state, and the other nominees are Democrats.
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