Newark, N.J., utility Public Service Enterprise Group said Wednesday it
named Randall Mehrberg to the newly created post of executive vice president of planning and strategy starting Sept. 8. Mehrberg is the former top legal eagle at Exelon Corp., where he was part of the team that oversaw Exelon's proposed acquisition of PSEG, quashed in 2006 by New Jersey regulators.
Mehrberg is taking over the responsibilities of Stephen Byrd, PSEG's senior VP of finance, business development, strategy and M&A, who will become president of PSEG Energy Holding starting July 7.
Mehrberg will report to Ralph Izzo, PSEG's chairman, president and chief executive officer, and will be a member of the corporate executive leadership team. He will have responsibility for developing PSEG's corporate strategy and five-year business plan.
Mehrberg, who, like Byrd, is a lawyer, worked for eight years at Chicago-based Exelon, the country's largest utility, most recently as executive VP, chief administrative officer and chief legal officer. He helped negotiate the recent rate-relief settlement with the Illinois General Assembly. Mehrberg resigned from his Exelon post in October, saying he had met his goals at the company and it was time to "move on."
Mehrberg was viewed as an effective manager, having centralized his legal team and boosted its productivity by having staff attorneys "bill" their time to Exelon units. Some inside Exelon even saw him as a potential successor to CEO John Rowe, who called him "a trusted confidant, friend and colleague" in his departing press release.
From 2002 to 2006 Mehrberg was executive vice president of corporate development and strategy and general counsel and before that was senior vice president, general counsel and chief ethics officer. Before Exelon, he worked as a partner at Jenner & Block and at one time was lake front director and general counsel for the City of Chicago's Park District. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business and holds a doctor of law degree from the University of Michigan Law School.
"Randy Mehrberg is a consummate legal and business professional and an outstanding strategic thinker," Izzo said in a statement. "He has a solid understanding of the complex energy and utility businesses and recognizes the importance of pursuing growth in a manner that will reward shareholders, customers and employees. He will be an excellent addition to PSEG."
Mehrberg's responsibilities will also include PSEG's emergent technology and transfer group and will oversee the corporate balanced scorecard.
PSEG hasn't been growing lately from acquisitions. Indeed, it's trimmed down, having
sold a lot of its international assets at unit PSEG Global to focus on its U.S. renewables business, most recently the Saesa group of electric distribution and transmission businesses in southern Chile last month to Morgan Stanley Infrastructure, a division of Morgan Stanley, and the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan for $1.27 billion.
But that could change, as utilities continue to consolidate, buy cleaner-burning natural gas plants and invest in renewable energy options, including solar and wind.
At PSEG's annual meeting in April, Rizzo said he saw growth opportunities in climate change and the need to keep improving environmental performance, upgrading infrastructure and looking for new energy supplies, including nuclear (he's looking at building a new plant at the sites of the company's Hope Creek and Salem nuclear units). Mehrberg has some work to do come September. -
Claire Poole
Join Corporate Dealmaker's LinkedIn forum
Juergen Lasowski
And the winners are...
