Sempra Energy shakes up its executive ranks
Sempra Energy, the San Diego-based parent of Southern California Gas Co., announced a shake-up involving nine executives at the top of its corporate structure.
Sempra President Mark Snell plans to retire in March and Jeff Martin will move from chairman, president and chief executive of San Diego Gas & Electric — a Sempra subsidiary — to executive vice president and chief financial officer at Sempra Energy at the start of 2017. He will report to Sempra Energy Chief Executive Debra Reed.
In another big move, Dennis Arriola will leave the jobs of chairman, president and CEO of Southern California Gas to become executive vice president of corporate strategy and external affairs for Sempra Energy. Patricia Wagner will take over as CEO of SoCalGas, moving from CEO of Sempra U.S. Gas & Power, a position she’s held since 2014.
Arriola has been at the helm at SoCalGas during the massive natural gas leak at the Aliso Canyon storage facility that displaced families living in the Porter Ranch area.
Sempra said the changes were part of an “ongoing leadership development and succession planning process.”
The announcement Tuesday came after markets in New York closed. Sempra Energy shares finished Tuesday down $2, or about 2%, to close at $102.53 on a day when the Dow Jones industrial average took a tumble, falling 258.32 points. On Wednesday, the stock regained some ground, closing at $104.13.
“I wouldn’t expect the stock to react too negatively to this,” said Andy Smith, senior utilities analyst at Edward Jones. “They’ve got a good growth story over the next several years, so I don’t think this will impair that in any way.”
Snell, 60, has been Sempra Energy’s president since 2011. Martin, 54, has served as SDG&E’s CEO since 2014.
The other executive changes involve:
- Joseph Householder, moving from executive vice president and chief financial officer of Sempra Energy to a newly created position, corporate group president of infrastructure businesses at the company.
- Steven Davis will go from executive VP of external affairs and corporate strategy at Sempra Energy to a just-created position of corporate group president of utilities.
- Scott Drury, the chief energy supply officer for SDG&E, will become president of SDG&E, reporting to Davis.
- Caroline Winn will move from chief energy delivery officer at SDG&E to chief operating officer at SDG&E and report to Drury.
J. Bret Lane takes over as president of SoCalGas and continues his duties as the company’s chief operating officer. Lane takes on his new responsibilities immediately, while the moves involving every other executive except Snell go into effect Jan. 1.
With 17,000 employees and more than 32 million customers worldwide, Sempra Energy racked up revenue of more than $10 billion in 2015. It’s considered a major player in the natural gas industry, in both domestic and international markets.
