NARUC elects Mississippi PSC chair as new president
The National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) announced Tuesday the association’s election of Brandon Presley as president.
Presley is the chair of the Mississippi Public Service Commission.
Presley was elected at NARUC’s 131st Annual Meeting and Education Conference in San Antonio this week. At his nomination, Presley spoke about his goal to ensure that all underserved communities — including rural areas — benefit from modern utility services.
He also spoke of a goal to identify and close gaps in resources, training, technology, and other areas that impede regulators and industry from best representing the public interest. Further, he announced a plan to appoint a task force looking at rural broadband service across the nation. Presley said that “many challenges exist for the least, the last and the left out.”
The new president also discussed the “growing gulf between connectivity in urban areas and suburban areas and rural areas in this country to what is the electricity of the 21st century: high-speed Internet service. I hope in the next year, we can be progressive, we can be alert and on the lookout for opportunities to make real, impacting decisions and policies that translate back to the people.”
NARUC, a national advocacy and education association that represents the interests of utility regulators, also elected its full slate of officers. They include North Carolina Commissioner ToNola Brown-Bland and Connecticut Commissioner John Betkoski.
Presley succeeds Iowa Utilities Board Member Nick Wagner as president.
