NYISO Board of Directors Names Emilie Nelson Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer
Ms. Nelson joined the NYISO in 2004. She possesses 24 years of experience in the electric power industry. She was named Executive Vice President in 2019 and leads the System & Resource Planning, Information Technology and Market Structures organizations for the company, with a focus on proactively addressing the evolving and dynamic challenges of the industry and a changing electric grid.
Rick Gonzales, Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, will retire at the end of the year. Mr. Gonzales has been with the NYISO since its inception in 1999, and with the New York Power Pool which preceded it, since 1987.
Before joining the NYISO, Ms. Nelson worked in electric generation for Mirant New York as a power plant performance engineer. Over her tenure with the NYISO she has held various roles of increasing responsibility in market monitoring, energy market design, and operations. Just prior to being named Executive Vice president, she was Vice President of Market Operations with responsibility for the administration of the wholesale electricity markets.
NYISO Board Chairman Dan Hill said, "Emilie has built a strong record of performance-driven results in a number of senior management roles throughout her career at the NYISO. She has a deep understanding of our business, the New York electric system, and the electric industry itself. She is well equipped to help guide the company successfully into the future.”
NYISO President and CEO Rich Dewey said, “No one is more qualified than Emilie to maintain reliability of the electric system while leading the grid in transition efforts for the company. She has a deep and complete understanding of market operations, reliability planning and system operations. I look forward to working with Emilie in her new capacity. I also want to thank Rick for his many years of dedicated service to the NYISO and his steadfast work in maintaining reliability of the electric grid during the development of the NYISO.”
Ms. Nelson holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Tufts University and a Master of Business Administration from Pace University and is a graduate of Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program.