PJM Members elected Matthew “Matt” Nelson to the PJM Board of Managers and will vote again at a future Members Committee meeting to elect two unfilled positions.
Nelson is currently a Principal of Regulatory Strategy at Apex Analytics, LLC. Prior to Apex, he served as the Chair of the Department of Public Utilities for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and before that, he was the department’s director of the Electric Power Division. He also spent four years in regulatory policy at the residential energy provider Eversource. An economist by training, Nelson earned an M.A. in economics from Tufts University and a B.A. in economics from Stonehill College.
Nelson fills the position vacated by Dean Oskvig, who retired effective with the Annual Meeting.
During the Members Committee May 12, the two incumbent board nominees, Chairman Mark Takahashi and Terry Blackwell, did not receive enough sector-weighted votes for reelection to three-year terms.
“I would like to welcome Matt to the organization and extend my heartfelt thanks to Mark and Terry, who have served PJM faithfully, effectively and graciously for nearly a decade,” PJM President & CEO Manu Asthana said. “I am proud to have served with both of them.”
The Nominating Committee will put forth additional nominees to fill the open positions through an election at a future Members Committee meeting.
Takahashi joined the PJM Board in 2016, and has served as Board chair since 2021. He previously served as chief financial officer of Ascendant Group Limited, parent company of Bermuda Electric Light Company Limited. Prior to that, he was group director and chief financial officer of CLP Holdings Limited, one of two vertically integrated electric utility companies in Hong Kong, from 2008 to 2014, having been with the organization since 2003. He earned a Bachelor of Science from the University of Colorado and an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Blackwell joined the PJM Board in 2015 and chaired the Human Resources Committee. He has four decades of experience in power system planning and operation, including the position of senior vice president of Power Delivery at Santee Cooper, where he had overall responsibility for Santee Cooper’s transmission system, including compliance with the North American Electric Reliability Corporation’s Reliability Standards. Blackwell also served as chair of the SERC Board and served on other SERC Board committees. He has a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering from North Carolina State University and is a licensed professional engineer in South Carolina.
Oskvig Retires From Board
Oskvig, whose retirement was effective with election of his replacement, joined the PJM Board in 2016 and served on the Board Governance Committee, Reliability & Security Committee and Regulatory Committee. Oskvig, with more than 40 years of experience within the energy industry, previously served as president and chief executive officer of the energy division of Black & Veatch from 2006 to 2015, as well as on its board, having been with the organization since 1975. From 1972 to 1975, he served as a base civil engineering officer in the United States Air Force. He earned a Bachelor of Science in civil engineering from the University of Iowa and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Utah.