SoCalGas Names Jimmie I. Cho Chief Operating Officer and Maryam S. Brown President

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 7, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) today announced that Jimmie I. Cho has been named the company's chief operating officer and, Maryam S. Brown, the company's president. 

Cho currently is senior vice president of customer services for SoCalGas and senior vice president of distribution operations for SoCalGas and San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E).  Brown currently serves as vice president of federal government affairs for Sempra Energy. In their new roles, Cho and Brown succeed Bret Lane, who was president and chief operating officer of SoCalGas before being appointed CEO of the company last month.

"Today's announcement of these executive appointments strengthens our leadership team with a balance of deep operational and energy policy experience," said Lane. "SoCalGas continues to be a champion for balanced energy solutions offering Californians energy choice and affordability."

In his 28 years with Sempra Energy's utilities, Cho has served in a variety of leadership roles, including as senior vice president of gas transmission and distribution, vice president of gas transmission and distribution and vice president of human resources. He first joined SoCalGas as an environmental engineer in 1990.

Previously, Cho was director of resource conservation and public outreach at the Las Virgenes Municipal Water District, a member agency of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.

Cho serves on the board of directors of the National Utilities Diversity Council and previously was chairman of the board of directors of the Los Angeles Conservation Corps.

He holds a bachelor's degree in geology from Brown University and a master's degree in civil engineering from Stanford University.

Brown joined Sempra Energy in 2016 as vice president of federal government affairs.

Prior to joining Sempra Energy, she served as the senior energy and environment counsel for the Office of the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. Previously, from 2011 to 2012, she was the energy chief counsel for the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce. From 2010 to 2011, Brown was policy counsel for the U.S. Senate's Republican Policy Committee, and, from 2008 to 2010, she was manager of public policy and strategic planning for ConocoPhillips.

Brown holds both a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering and a law degree (Order of the Coif) from Louisiana State University.

Cho's appointment is effective Jan. 12.  Brown's appointment will be effective at a yet-to-be-determined future date.

About SoCalGas 

Headquartered in Los Angeles, SoCalGas® is the largest natural gas distribution utility in the United States. SoCalGas delivers affordable, reliable, clean and increasingly renewable natural gas service to 21.8 million customers across 24,000 square miles of Central and Southern California, where more than 90 percent of residents use natural gas for heating, hot water, cooking, drying clothes or other uses. Natural gas delivered through the company's pipelines also plays a key role in providing electricity to Californians — about 60 percent of electric power generated in the state comes from gas-fired power plants.  

SoCalGas is committed to investing in its natural gas system infrastructure, while keeping bills affordable for our customers. From 2013 through 2017, the company spent nearly $6 billion to upgrade and modernize its natural gas system to enhance safety and reliability. The company is also committed to being a leader in the region's clean energy future, and is working to accelerate the use of renewable natural gas from dairy farms, landfills, and wastewater treatment plants and the development of renewable energy storage technologies. SoCalGas is a subsidiary of Sempra Energy (NYSE: SRE), an energy services holding company based in San Diego. For more information, visit socalgas.com/newsroom or connect with SoCalGas on Twitter (@SoCalGas), Instagram (@SoCalGas) and Facebook.

This press release contains statements that are not historical fact and constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements can be identified by words such as "believes," "expects," "anticipates," "plans," "estimates," "projects," "forecasts," "contemplates," "assumes," "depends," "should," "could," "would," "will," "confident," "may," "can," "potential," "possible," "proposed," "target," "pursue," "outlook," "maintain," or similar expressions or discussions of guidance, strategies, plans, goals, vision, opportunities, projections, initiatives, objectives or intentions. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of performance. They involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Future results may differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements.

Factors, among others, that could cause our actual results and future actions to differ materially from those described in any forward-looking statements include risks and uncertainties relating to: actions and the timing of actions, including decisions, new regulations, and issuances of permits and other authorizations by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), U.S. Department of Energy, California Department of Conservation's Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, California Air Resources Board, South Coast Air Quality Management District, Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, states, cities and counties, and other regulatory and governmental bodies in the U.S.; the timing and success of business development efforts and construction projects, including risks in (i) timely obtaining or maintaining permits and other authorizations, (ii) completing construction projects on schedule and on budget, and (iii) counterparties being unable fulfill contractual commitments; the resolution of civil and criminal litigation and regulatory investigations; deviations from regulatory precedent or practice that result in a reallocation of benefits or burdens among shareholders and ratepayers; denial of approvals of proposed settlements or modifications of settlements; delays in, or disallowance or denial of, regulatory agency authorizations to recover costs in rates from customers or regulatory agency approval for projects required to enhance safety and reliability, any of which may raise our cost of capital and materially impair our ability to finance our operations; the availability of electric power and natural gas, and natural gas pipeline and storage capacity, including disruptions caused by failures in the transmission grid, moratoriums or limitations on the withdrawal or injection of natural gas from or into storage facilities, and equipment failures; changes in energy markets; volatility in commodity prices; moves to reduce or eliminate reliance on natural gas; weather conditions, natural disasters, accidents, equipment failures, computer system outages, explosions, terrorist attacks and other events that disrupt our operations, damage our facilities and systems, cause the release of greenhouse gases and harmful emissions, and subject us to third-party liability for property damage or personal injuries, fines and penalties, some of which may not be covered by insurance (including costs in excess of applicable policy limits), may be disputed by insurers or may otherwise not be recoverable through regulatory mechanisms or may impact our ability to obtain satisfactory levels of insurance, to the extent that such insurance is available or not prohibitively expensive; cybersecurity threats to the energy grid, storage and pipeline infrastructure, the information and systems used to operate our businesses and the confidentiality of our proprietary information and the personal information of our customers and employees; capital markets and economic conditions, including the availability of credit and the liquidity of our investments; and fluctuations in inflation and interest rates and our ability to effectively hedge the risk of such fluctuations; the impact of recent federal tax reform and uncertainty as to how it may be applied, and our ability to mitigate adverse impacts; actions by credit rating agencies to downgrade our credit ratings or to place those ratings on negative outlook and our ability to borrow at favorable interest rates; changes in foreign and domestic trade policies and laws, including border tariffs, and revisions to or replacement of international trade agreements, such as the North American Free Trade Agreement, that may increase our costs or impair our ability to resolve trade disputes; and other uncertainties, some of which may be difficult to predict and are beyond our control.

These risks and uncertainties are further discussed in the reports that Sempra Energy has filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). These reports are available through the EDGAR system free-of-charge on the SEC's website, www.sec.gov. Investors should not rely unduly on any forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof, and the company undertakes no obligation to update or revise these forecasts or projections or other forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Sempra South American Utilities, Sempra North American Infrastructure, Sempra LNG & Midstream, Sempra Renewables, Sempra Mexico, Sempra Texas Utility, Oncor Electric Delivery Company LLC (Oncor) and Infraestructura Energética Nova, S.A.B. de C.V. (IEnova) are not the same companies as the California utilities, San Diego Gas & Electric Company (SDG&E) or Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas), and Sempra South American Utilities, Sempra North American Infrastructure, Sempra LNG & Midstream, Sempra Renewables, Sempra Mexico, Sempra Texas Utility, Oncor and IEnova are not regulated by the California Public Utilities Commission.

 

SOURCE Southern California Gas Company