Contact: Regina Davis, 202-898-9382, rdavis@naruc.org

WASHINGTON (January 19, 2021) — New Jersey Board of Public Utilities Commissioner Mary-Anna Holden was tapped by National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners President Paul Kjellander to join the Association’s board of directors as an at-large member. Holden replaces departing at-large member Commissioner Kara Fornstrom, who is leaving her post at the Wyoming Public Service Commission.

Holden, who served previously as the chair of the NARUC Committee on Water, was on the board until her term as chair ended in 2019. She was appointed to the NJBPU in January 2012 and was reappointed by Governor Murphy in April 2018. She served as mayor of the Borough of Madison for four years and as a councilwoman for 10 years, during which time she chaired or co-chaired committees and departments that included electric and water utilities, public works, engineering, transportation and public safety. Holden also is the immediate past chair of the University of Missouri’s Financial Research Institute, is a board member of the Center for Public Utilities at New Mexico State University and is past president of the Mid-Atlantic Conference of Regulatory Utility Commissioners. She is also a member of the National Regulatory Research Institute Advisory Board for the Regulatory Training Initiative. 

“I am very happy to rejoin NARUC’s Board of Directors,” said Holden. “This body is tasked with myriad responsibilities to ensure that the Association adopts policies and moves in a direction that best reflect the needs and interests of sound utility regulation. I am so honored that President Kjellander has asked me to rejoin the board.”

Holden will begin her new role undertaking an important initiative to create a handbook for NARUC committee chairs that will enable committee chairs to more successfully navigate the path of guiding their committees in the ever-changing regulatory/utility environment.

“Commissioner Holden has the ability to draw from an extensive well of experience as a regulator,” said Kjellander. “She has great institutional knowledge and the ability to lead important initiatives, as demonstrated by her significant role in helping to successfully transition the Rate School program back under NARUC’s direct control. As a former member of the board in her capacity as chair of the Committee on Water, Mary-Anna is well-positioned to assist the board with its work.”

The board consists of 20 members, plus the NARUC president, the first and second vice presidents, each past-president (who is still an active NARUC member) and the chairs of all standing committees. Board appointments are made by the NARUC president and serve four-year terms. As the supervisory body, the board oversees the Association's general and financial functions and approves resolutions that serve as the Association's policy. 

###

About NARUC

NARUC is a non-profit organization founded in 1889 whose members include the governmental agencies that are engaged in the regulation of utilities and carriers in the fifty States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. NARUC's member agencies regulate telecommunications, energy, and water utilities. NARUC represents the interests of State public utility commissions before the three branches of the Federal government.