SANTA FE – Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on Thursday announced her appointment of Ron J. Lovato to the newly-created bipartisan committee tasked with nominating candidates for the Public Regulation Commission.

Lovato is a former two-term governor of Ohkay Owingeh who has served as the CEO of the pueblo’s Tsay Corporation for nearly two decades. As governor he negotiated utility easements, equipment leases, and right-of-way agreements with national and statewide utility and telecommunications providers, in addition to successfully filing for FCC licensure for broadband frequency in order to bring internet services to Ohkay Owingeh. During his tenure at the Tsay Corporation, Lovato has managed the construction of multiple cell towers, overseen multiple utility development projects, and spearheaded the negotiation of solar energy developments. He was also elected to serve on the Board of Trustees of the Jemez Mountain Electric Cooperative from 2009 to 2012. Lovato currently serves on the board of the New Mexico Finance Authority and has previously served on the boards of the Regional Development Corporation, the United Way of Northern New Mexico, the Tesuque Pueblo Development Corporation, and the Los Alamos National Laboratory Business Advisory Council. He holds a bachelor’s degree from New Mexico State University and a master’s from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

The Lujan Grisham administration also announced on Thursday the appointments of Rikki Seguin and William R. Brancard to the PRC nominating committee, appointed by Economic Development Department Secretary Alicia J. Keyes and Energy, Minerals & Natural Resources Department Secretary Sarah Cottrell Propst, respectively.

Seguin has a decade of experience in the renewable energy field, currently serving as the executive director of the Interwest Energy Alliance, where she works with the nation’s leading large-scale wind, solar, storage, and transmission developers and manufacturers to expand deployment of a diverse portfolio of renewable energy resources in the Intermountain West region. She has years of experience with New Mexico’s Public Regulation Commission and is intimately familiar with the technical details of clean energy development in the western United States. Seguin holds two bachelor’s degrees from the University of Florida.

Brancard has over three decades of experience in energy and environmental law, currently serving as the Hearings Bureau Chief for the New Mexico Energy, Minerals & Natural Resources Department. He previously served as the department’s general counsel and the director of the department’s Mining and Minerals Division. He has also worked in the State Land Office as both associate counsel and Assistant Commissioner for Legislation and Policy, in addition to previously serving as Assistant Attorney General, with a focus on matters concerning the environment and mining. Brancard holds a bachelor’s degree from Hamilton College and a law degree from Harvard Law School, where he was the editor of the Harvard Environmental Law Review.