Management Team

 
Caroline Winn

Chief Executive Officer 

Caroline Winn is chief executive officer for San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E), one of Sempra’s regulated California utilities. Sempra is a San Diego-based energy services holding company whose subsidiaries provide electricity, natural gas and value-added products and services.

SDG&E provides service to 3.6 million consumers through 1.4 million electric meters and more than 873,000 natural gas meters in San Diego and southern Orange counties.

Winn became CEO of SDG&E in August 2020. Previously, she served as the chief operating officer of SDG&E, overseeing operations of the utility’s gas and electric infrastructure assets, and customer services. In that role, Winn is widely recognized for SDG&E’s national leadership in sustainability, technology and innovation, including the company’s significant safety and wildfire mitigation efforts.

Winn also served as chief energy delivery officer, managing all energy delivery activities for SDG&E, including electric distribution operations and gas services, customer services, and external and state legislative affairs.

Since joining the company in 1986 as an associate engineer, Winn has held several leadership positions with SDG&E and Southern California Gas (SoCalGas).

Winn currently serves on the board of directors for Father Joe’s Villages and Monarch School; the executive council for Western Energy Institute; and the director’s council of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. She also serves on the board as an independent director for both Kayne Anderson Energy Infrastructure Fund, Inc. and Kayne Anderson NextGen Energy & Infrastructure, Inc.

Previously, Winn has served as the board chair for the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce and continues to currently serve as a board member. She has a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from California State University Sacramento and is a registered professional engineer in the State of California.

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Bruce Folkmann

President and CFO for SDG&E

Bruce Folkmann is president and chief financial officer for San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E), one of Sempra's regulated California utilities.  

Folkmann became president and chief financial officer in August of 2020.  Previously, he served as senior vice president, controller and chief financial officer of SDG&E.  His responsibilities included accounting, financial planning and treasury, regulatory accounts and business innovation, energy supply and asset management functions.

Since joining Sempra in 2005, Folkmann has held positions of increasing responsibility, primarily in the accounting and finance organizations with the Sempra family of companies.  He joined SDG&E in 2015.

Folkmann graduated summa cum laude from the University of Houston Honors College, receiving degrees in accounting and finance.  He is a certified public accountant.

Folkmann serves on the board of directors of the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation, whose mission is to maximize the San Diego Region’s economic prosperity and global competitiveness.  In addition,

Folkmann serves on the board of directors of the Mission Trails Regional Park Foundation.  The Foundation preserves and protects for educational and recreational purposes the natural environment of the 7,200-acre park in partnership with the City of San Diego.

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Kevin Geraghty

Chief Operating Officer, Chief Safety Officer

Kevin Geraghty is the chief operating officer and chief safety officer for San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E), one of Sempra's regulated California utilities. He is responsible for the safe and reliable engineering, construction, operations and maintenance of the company’s gas, electric and generation resources. He is also responsible for customer service and programs, workplace safety and public safety, including emergency management.

Previously, Geraghty served as both chief safety officer and as senior vice president of electric operations responsible for all aspects of electric transmission, distribution and substation operations, enterprise engineering and major capital projects.

Geraghty has been in the gas and electric utility business for more than 35 years. Prior to joining San Diego Gas & Electric, he was senior vice president, operations at NV Energy.

Geraghty holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Pittsburgh.

He is a board member of the San Diego Habitat for Humanity.

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Valerie Bille

Vice President, Controller and Chief Accounting Officer

Valerie Bille is vice president, controller and chief accounting officer for San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E), one of Sempra's regulated California utilities.  

She is responsible for the accounting, financial planning and treasury, regulatory accounts and business innovation functions.

Since joining Sempra  in 2014, Bille has held positions of increasing responsibility, primarily in the accounting and finance organizations with the Sempra family of companies. Previously, Bille was the Assistant Controller for Sempra.

Bille received a bachelor’s degree in accounting from California State University, San Marcos. She is a certified public accountant.

Bille serves on the board of directors of the Boys & Girls Club of East County (BGCEC) whose mission is to  enable all young people, especially those that need it most, to reach their full potential as productive, caring, responsible citizens.

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Scott B. Crider

Senior Vice President of External and Operations Support

Scott B. Crider is senior vice president of external and operations support for San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E), one of Sempra’s California regulated utilities.

In this role, he oversees public affairs, community relations, marketing and communications, as well as electric pricing and forecasting, supply management, supplier diversity, logistics, fleet, real estate, land services and facilities.

Prior to his current role, Crider served as SDG&E’s senior vice president of customer services and external affairs where he oversaw public affairs, community relations, communications, as well as all customer related activities. Prior to that role, he has held other positions, serving as SDG&E’s vice president of customer service and chief customer officer, and vice president of federal affairs at Sempra. He first joined the company in 2002 and has held a number of leadership positions over the years. 

He serves on the board of directors of the Downtown San Diego Partnership.

Crider has a bachelor’s degree in law and society from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

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Brian D’Agostino

Vice President, Wildfire and Climate Science

Brian D’Agostino is vice president of wildfire and climate science for San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E), one of Sempra's regulated California utilities.

In this role, D’Agostino is responsible for Emergency Management, Wildfire Mitigation, situational awareness, weather forecasting and climate adaptation initiatives. He joined SDG&E in 2009 and oversaw the development of SDG&E’s meteorology program, one of the nation’s most sophisticated meteorology programs.

D’Agostino also served as the director of Fire Science and Climate Adaptation for four years expanding situational awareness and forecasting capabilities while also establishing customer and community resilience programs. He is also a founding member of the AMS Committee on Wildfire Weather, Technology and Risk and also serves as the Inaugural Chair of the National Science Foundation Wildfire Interdisciplinary Research Center at San Jose State University. D’Agostino is a graduate of Plymouth State University with a Bachelor of Science in meteorology.

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Erbin Keith

Senior Vice President, General Counsel

Erbin Keith is general counsel for San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E), one of Sempra's regulated California utilities.

Keith has held various positions with the Sempra companies since 1994, including deputy general counsel at Sempra, chief risk officer and general counsel for SDG&E, and general counsel and senior vice president of external affairs for Southern California Gas Company.

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Dana Golan

Vice President, Customer Services

Dana Golan serves as vice president of customer services for San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E), one of Sempra's regulated California utilities.  In this role, Golan oversees all customer-related activities for SDG&E, including customer services, digital channel management and strategy, field and meter operations, customer programs, business services and revenue cycle activities.

Prior to her current role, Golan served as director of supply management, director of financial planning and director of strategic planning.  Since joining Sempra in 2004 and SDG&E in 2010, she has held a number of other leadership positions in the areas of customer pricing, marketing, education and outreach, investor relations and executive projects management.

Golan received a bachelor’s degree in communications studies from the University of California, Los Angeles and earned a Master of Business Administration in finance from Pepperdine University.

Golan serves on the board of advisors of the UC Davis Energy and Efficiency Institute and the board of directors of the San Diego County Chapter of the California Restaurant Association. 

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Ben Gordon

Senior Vice President
Chief Information Officer
Chief Digital Officer

Ben Gordon is senior vice president, chief information officer and chief digital officer for San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) and Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas), Sempra's regulated California utilities.

As chief information officer, he develops and executes policy and strategic initiatives for all matters related to information and digital technologies – ranging from cybersecurity and customer experience to big data analytics – to mitigate threats and drive business growth. He oversees an information technology team dedicated to optimizing IT infrastructure performance and decreasing enterprise risk across technology networks, data centers, and end-use devices.

As chief digital officer, Gordon is focused on fostering new ideas to drive corporate innovations, enterprise-wide culture change, and the rapid technology adoption necessary to become leaders of digital transformation in the energy sector.

Gordon joined SoCalGas and SDG&E in August 2018 and previously held the title of vice president, technology operations and infrastructure management.

Prior to joining the utilities, he was vice president of technology for Molina Healthcare in Long Beach, Calif. In that role, he led Molina’s technology operations, including the creation and execution of a modernization program for the company’s technology platforms, implementation of cloud-platform technologies, and consolidation of technology infrastructure to more efficiently run the company’s call centers and critical applications.

Gordon’ previous experience also included holding management positions at Three Dimensional Resource Planning, a technology solutions and services company, and at the Apollo Education Group, a provider of higher education programs.

Gordon has a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Northern Arizona University and a doctorate in chemistry from the University of Florida.

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Kendall Helm

Vice President, People and Culture

Kendall Helm is vice president of people and culture for San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E), one of Sempra's regulated California utilities.

She is responsible for developing and managing human resource policies, employee diversity and inclusion programs, organizational effectiveness, labor relations oversight and staffing, employee communications, human resource service and analysis, and workforce readiness.

Helm is a PhD economist and joined Sempra's  Corporate Economics team, where she provided research on the company’s valuation, capital structure, and corporate strategy. In 2014, she became Sempra’s Director of Investor Relations. Helm joined SDG&E in 2016 as the Director of Origination and Portfolio Design and oversaw the procurement of all long-term energy resources. In 2018, she was promoted to Vice President of Energy Supply, where she was responsible for all aspects of acquiring energy and capacity to serve SDG&E customers, including electric generation and resource planning. In August of 2019, Helm was named Vice President of Customer Operations. In that role, she was responsible for customer field services, customer programs, business services and Time-Of-Use rate implementation.

Prior to joining Sempra, Helm was Senior Economist for International Affairs and Trade at the U.S. Government Accountability Office, where she reported to Congress on topics relating to climate change, energy export promotion, and international competitiveness. Previously, she has consulted for clients including the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation, Georgetown University, and the World Bank.

Helm received a bachelor’s degree in economics and international studies from the University of Denver and earned a doctorate in economics from American University.

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John Jenkins

Vice President, Electric Operations

John Jenkins is vice president of electric operations for San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E), one of Sempra's regulated California utilities. He is responsible for the construction, maintenance, and operation of the electric grid, including distribution, transmission, and substation infrastructure.

Previously, Jenkins was vice president of electric engineering and construction, responsible for all engineering functions, management of major projects, construction services, distribution project management, vegetation management and the construction and maintenance of transmission and substation infrastructure.

Jenkins has a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from California Polytechnic State University (San Luis Obispo). Jenkins currently serves on the board of directors for Access Youth Academy.

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Jennifer Jett

Vice President, Operations Support

Jennifer Jett is vice president of operations support for San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E), one of Sempra's regulated California utilities. In this role, Jett oversees supply management, supplier diversity, logistics, fleet, real estate, land services, tribal relations and facilities.

Prior to her current role, Jett served as vice president, governance, and corporate secretary for Sempra. In that role, she was responsible for advising the board of directors and senior management on a broad range of governance matters.

Over the past 17 years, Jett has held various positions of increasing responsibility within the law and finance departments at Sempra, where she worked on a wide range of securities, transactional, governance and financing matters for Sempra and its subsidiaries.

Jett serves as a board member of the Corporate Directors Forum and Alzheimer's San Diego.  

She holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology and anthropology from the University of Vermont, where she graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, and a law degree from the University of California, Berkeley.

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Kent Kauss

Regional Vice President, External Relations

Kent Kauss is regional vice president, external relations for Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas) and San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E), Sempra's regulated California utilities.

Before joining SoCalGas and SDG&E in 2017, Kauss was the Senior Director and Chief Lobbyist for Pacific Gas & Electric, where he led the State Government Relations function, including the development and strategy of legislative policy. He also has been a director at the California Public Utilities Commission, responsible for the operations of the Office of Governmental Affairs and served as the liaison to the Governor’s Office and state agencies. Kauss has significant energy-related expertise in state government and state agency policy and strategy.

Kauss sits on the board of the VetFund Foundation. He holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.

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Estela de Llanos

Vice President of Land and Environmental Services and Chief Sustainability Officer

Estela de Llanos serves as vice president of land and environmental services and Chief Sustainability Officer for San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E), one of Sempra’s regulated California utilities. In this role, de Llanos oversees all compliance and operational strategies relating to SDG&E’s land portfolio, environmental considerations, and sustainability of our business. 

De Llanos joined Sempra in 2007 as senior environmental counsel and has held a number of positions within the Sempra family of companies.  Prior to joining Sempra, she was an attorney in the Los Angeles office of Latham & Watkins LLP, where she specialized in land use and environmental matters in connection with major projects throughout California. 

De Llanos currently serves on the board of the California Environmental Voters Education Fund, the Coalition for Clean Air and the Francis Parker School Board of Trustees.  She previously served on the Board of the Los Angeles Center for Law and Justice and the Del Mar Schools Education Foundation. 

De Llanos holds a law degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a bachelor’s degree in psychology with a second major in international studies from Yale University.

 
 

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Mitch Mitchell

Senior Vice President, Chief Legislative Officer

Eugene "Mitch" Mitchell is chief legislative officer for Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas) and San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E). He oversees state legislative activities and advances the California utilities' strategic policy objectives. 

Mitchell has held various senior executive roles at Sempra, SoCalGas and SDG&E.

He was Sempra’s senior vice president, diversity, and community partnerships. In this role, he advanced the company's high-performance culture by leading a collective effort to enhance diversity and inclusion within Sempra, its operating companies and in the communities it serves. Mitchell also previously served as vice president of state governmental and external affairs for SoCalGas and SDG&E.

Prior to his work with Sempra's California utilities, Mitchell served in a variety of roles in governmental affairs and community relations for the City of San Diego, labor, and business entities.

Mitchell holds a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Redlands. He serves on the boards of the Children's Hospital of Los Angeles, San Diego Housing Commission, and Sharp Hospital Board of Trustees.

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Adam Pierce

Vice President of Energy Procurement and Rates 

Adam Pierce is Vice President of Energy Procurement and Rates for San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E), one of Sempra’s regulated California utilities.

In his current role, Pierce is responsible for SDG&E’s electric and fuel procurement as well as electric pricing and forecasting.

Since joining Sempra in 2012, Pierce has served in various roles across the organization including Sempra’s Mergers & Acquisitions department, Sempra Renewables, Sempra's Investor Relations department and most recently Customer Pricing for SDG&E.

Prior to joining Sempra, Pierce was in the financial services industry focusing on energy and power capital markets.

Pierce received his bachelor’s degree in business administration from Saint Louis University with concentrations in both economics and finance.

He currently serves on the advisory board for San Diego State University’s Fowler College of Business School of Management. 

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Miguel Romero

Chief Commercial Officer

Miguel Romero is chief commercial officer for San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E), one of Sempra’s California regulated utilities.

As chief commercial officer, Romero is responsible for all commercial growth initiatives and a growing portfolio of clean energy strategies, innovations, and projects to support SDG&E’s progress toward net-zero emissions.

Romero joined the Sempra family of companies in 2004 and has held a number of positions with increasing responsibilities in the development of renewable energy, energy storage, clean transportation, hydrogen, and other advanced clean energy technologies. In his most recent executive roles, Romero served as vice president of energy innovation as well as vice president of energy supply for SDG&E.

Romero holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of San Diego and a master’s degree in international affairs & management from the University of California, San Diego. He also serves on the board of directors for Veloz and is an executive board member of Clean Tech San Diego.

 

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Michael M. Schneider

Vice President, Risk Management and Compliance and Chief Compliance Officer and Chief Risk Officer

 

Michael M. Schneider is vice president of risk management and compliance, chief compliance officer and chief risk officer at San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E), one of Sempra's regulated California utilities.

Schneider is responsible for risk identification, mitigation, quantification and financial frameworks, compliance and energy risk management in addition to asset management.

Previously, he was vice president—clean transportation and asset management, where he oversaw clean transportation, asset management, growth and technology integration, strategic planning and business optimization. In addition, Schneider held executive roles as vice president of operations support and vice president of customer operations.

Schneider joined SDG&E in 1992 and has held roles in customer service, regulatory, operations, environmental and finance.

Schneider holds a master's degree in business administration from George Mason University with an emphasis in finance and a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Arizona.

He serves on the board of directors of the San Diego River Park Foundation and the National Board of Advisors of the Eller College of Management at the University of Arizona.

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Rodger Schwecke

Senior Vice President, Gas Operations and Construction

Rodger R. Schwecke is Senior Vice President and Chief Infrastructure Officer for San Diego Gas & Electric and Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas), Sempra's regulated California utilities. He oversees gas distribution, transmission and storage system operations, as well as construction and execution of capital programs to enhance the safety and reliability of the gas system. 

Since joining SoCalGas in 1983, Schwecke has held a variety of increasingly responsible management positions in business development, operations, marketing, engineering and project management. From 2012 to 2016, he served as vice president, customer solutions for SoCalGas and was responsible for customer programs, customer communications and eServices, account executives and the development of new emerging technologies, including clean transportation, distributed energy, in-home services and biofuels.

From 2010 to 2012, Schwecke was director of storage and managed the underground storage field operations that support the daily and seasonal operational flexibility of the gas transmission and distribution system. From 2007 to 2010, he was director of energy markets and capacity products and led the development, marketing and capacity planning for products and services using existing pipeline and storage assets. He also developed regulatory cases and explored the expansion of these assets.

Schwecke serves on the board of directors for the California Science Center. He is also a member of the University of California, Irvine Chief Executive Roundtable. He holds a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from California State University, Long Beach.

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Dan Skopec

Senior Vice President & Chief Regulatory Officer

Dan Skopec is senior vice president and chief regulatory officer for San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) and Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas), Sempra's regulated California utilities.

Skopec is responsible for the company’s engagement with regulators and policymakers at the state, legislative and executive branch levels.

Skopec joined SDG&E and SoCalGas in 2008 as vice president, regulatory affairs. Prior to that, he served as undersecretary at the California Environmental Protection Agency, deputy cabinet secretary under California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, and as a legislative aide in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Skopec holds a master’s degree in international economics from The George Washington University and a bachelor’s degree in political science and European history from the University of California, San Diego.  

Skopec serves on the board of directors of the California Foundation on the Environment and the Economy and the California State Parks Foundation.

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Will Speer

Vice President, Electric Engineering and Construction

Will Speer is vice president of electric engineering and construction for San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E), one of Sempra's regulated California utilities.  As vice president of electric engineering and construction, Speer is responsible for all engineering functions, management of major projects, construction services, distribution project management, vegetation management and the construction and maintenance of transmission and substation infrastructure. 

Previously, Speer was senior director of electric engineering and construction for SDG&E.

Speer joined SDG&E in 1999 and has held numerous engineering and management positions reflecting increasing levels of responsibility, including director—electric engineering, director—electric system planning, director—transmission planning, grid control manager, north coast operations and engineering manager, and northern region operations and engineering manager.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois and a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts from DePauw University. Speer also is a licensed professional engineer in the state of California.

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Tashonda Taylor

Vice President, Gas Operations

Tashonda Taylor is vice president of gas operations for San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E), one of Sempra's regulated California utilities. She oversees all gas distribution operations, as well as execution and construction of capital programs to enhance the safety, reliability and integrity of the gas pipeline system at SDG&E.

Previously, Taylor served as vice president of customer operations where she was responsible for customer field operations, customer programs and business services.

Taylor began her career at SDG&E over 20 years ago as an electrical engineer in the engineering rotation program and has held a number of positions within the company. Taylor has served as director of design & construction management, director of safety, wellness and employee care services, additionally numerous leadership roles in project management, construction and operations and engineering. 

Taylor earned a Bachelor of Science in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from California State University, Sacramento and a Master of Business Administration from National University. She currently sits on the board of the San Diego Children’s Discovery Museum. She previously served on the board of the Elementary Institute of Science. Taylor is also a lifetime member of the National Society of Black Engineers.

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