New Boss For Smart Electric Power Alliance In US

• SEPA has announced the appointment of Sheri Givens as the organization's new president and CEO
• She will take over from Julia Hamm who has served in the position for 19 years
• Hamm put in her papers in July 2022; Givens will join SEPA officially on November 7, 2022

Sheri Givens of National Grid to join the non-profit clean energy organization for electric utilities in the US, the Smart Electric Power Association (SEPA) as its president and CEO from November 7, 2022, taking over from its outgoing leader for 19 years, Julia Hamm.

SEPA had been on the lookout for a replacement for Hamm after she decided to quit the organization in July 2022.

Hamm wrote on LinkedIn, "I couldn't be more excited about the announcement that I will be handing the reins over to the amazing Sheri Givens on November 7.  I've known her for a long time, and have 100% confidence that she's the right leader to guide SEP and the energy industry through these coming years of extraordinary growth and progress towards a #carbonfree electricity sector."

Givens will come to SEPA from National Grid where she currently works as the VP of US Policy & Regulatory Strategy. Previously she was a member of the Electricity Advisory Committee of the US Department of Energy (DOE).

Her experience of over 20 years spans legal, regulatory, legislative, and external affairs.

"Sheri's combination of experiences makes her uniquely qualified to lead the acceleration of the power sector's transformation to carbon-free electricity," said SEPA board chair and SVP, system strategy, and chief planning officer for Xcel Energy, Alice Jackson.

In her LinkedIn profile Hamm summarizes how she has grown SEPA "from a small non-profit into a mature, vibrant, high performing organization with significant stature in the energy industry, going from 1 employee to 50, and 100 members to more than 1,100." During her tenure, she has led mission expansion and rebranding from what was earlier called Solar Electric Power Association to today's Smart Electric Power Alliance, and mergers with the Association for Demand Response & Smart Grid and Smart Grid Interoperability Panel. Together with the US solar industry association SEIA, SEPA runs the US' largest energy trade show, RE+. Today SEPA offers "fee-based research and advisory services to assist individual utilities with their strategic and programmatic needs on their journey to carbon-free energy."