Commissioner Mary Throne of the Wyoming PSC left state service on August 1 to pursue a new opportunity. Consequently, she stepped down from the Western Interconnection Regional Advisory Body (WIRAB) and vacated her role as Chair. Commissioner Throne served WIRAB with distinction, first as Vice Chair (April 2022 – May 2023) and then as Chair (May 2023 – present). Her leadership elevated WIRAB’s profile at both the regional and national levels, including her representation of WIRAB at WECC and FERC. Mary’s guidance has been instrumental in shaping WIRAB’s positions on key reliability issues, including resource adequacy, inverter-based resources, and transmission planning and assessments. We are deeply grateful for her service and wish her continued success in her next chapter.
On August 5, 2025, the WIRAB elected a new leadership team to guide the organization:
WIRAB Chair: Lea Márquez Peterson, Commissioner at the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC), was elected WIRAB Chair after serving as WIRAB Vice Chair since May 2023. Commissioner Peterson has served as Arizona’s representative on WIRAB since June 2021. She was elected to the ACC in 2020 after her 2019 appointment by Governor Ducey and was re-elected in 2024. Lea served as Chair of the ACC for two years, serves on the national board for NARUC, where she chairs the subcommittee on Education and Research, and serves as co-chair of the NARUC/NASEO Advanced Nuclear State Collaborative. A former entrepreneur and advocate for Arizona’s small business community, she also serves on the Advisory Council to the Center for Public Utilities at New Mexico State University. She holds an undergraduate degree in Marketing and Entrepreneurship from the University of Arizona and a Master of Business Administration from Pepperdine University.
WIRAB Vice-Chair: Siva Gunda, Commissioner at the California Energy Commission (CEC), was elected to serve as WIRAB Vice-Chair. Commissioner Gunda has represented California on WIRAB since April 2022 and has served as Vice Chair of the CEC since September 2021. He leads efforts in energy and transportation fuels assessments, reliability, long-term planning, demand analysis, and data initiatives. Prior to his appointment to the CEC by Governor Gavin Newsom in 2021, Siva held leadership roles at UC Davis’s Energy Efficiency Institute and the CEC’s Demand Analysis Office. He holds an M.S. in Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering from Utah State University and is pursuing his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from UC Davis.
Official actions of WIRAB are taken based upon the affirmative vote of at least one-half of the organization’s members, provided that the affirmative votes also represent at least one-half of the electric energy consumed in WIRAB states and provinces. Commissioners Peterson and Gunda were elected to the roles of WIRAB Chair and Vice Chair, respectively, by WIRAB representatives from Arizona, British Columbia, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. Alberta abstained. New Mexico, Texas, and Baja California Norte, Mexico, currently have vacancies on WIRAB.