ICER Leadership

David Morton

Chair

David M. Morton was appointed Chair of ICER in August 2023. He is Chair and CEO of the British Columbia Utilities Commission (BCUC) since December 2015. In addition to being the Chair and CEO, he is also a Commissioner. He considers this to be a key part of his leadership role, and he continues to participate, usually as the Panel Chair, in a number of key proceedings. David has over 25 years of experience as a consultant in the information technology sector. He is a Professional Engineer in British Columbia, has a Licentiate in Accounting from the Society of Management Accountants Canada, and was certified with the ICD.D designation in 2013 by the Institute of Corporate Directors and holds a Bachelor of Applied Science from the University of Toronto. David also serves as director for the Arts Club Theatre Company, and as President of the West Vancouver Community Arts Council.

Annegret Groebel

Co-Vice Chair

Dr. Annegret Groebel was elected Co-Vice Chair of ICER in August 2023. She was elected President of the Council of European Energy Regulators (CEER) in January 2019, having previously served as CEER Vice President since 2012. She is a member of the Board of Regulators of the EU Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER). She is also actively involved in the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) and in the European Regulators Group for Postal Services (ERGP). She is a member of the OECD’s Network of Economic Regulators (NER Bureau), a working group of the OECD looking at cross-sectoral governance issues of economic regulators.

Dr. Groebel is Head of Section ‘International Co-ordination’ of the Federal Network Agency for Electricity, Gas, Telecommunications, Post and Railway (BNetzA) and has served in different posts for the German regulator since 1997. She lectures on different subjects in economics, finance, social policy, trade policy and regulatory frameworks at different universities and vocational training academies in Germany, Italy and in Switzerland. She has authored publications in the field of telecommunications and energy regulation.

David Danner

ICER Co-Vice Chair;
Chair of the ICER Chronicle

Mr. Danner assumed his role as ICER Co-Vice Chair in August 2023. He was previously elected ICER Vice Chair in March 2018 and assumed his former role of ICER Chair in February 2020. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the National Association of Regulatory Utilities Commissioners (NARUC) and chairs its International Relations Committee. He is a member of the State Technology Services Board, the Board of Directors of the National Regulatory Research Institute (NRRI), and the Advisory Council of the Center for Public Utilities at New Mexico State University.

David W. Danner is chairman of the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission. Danner had been the agency’s executive director since 2005 and secretary since 2008. Before that, he served as executive policy advisor to Washington Gov. Gary Locke on energy, telecommunications, finance, and elections issues.

In 2004, Gov. Locke named Danner to the state Pollution Control Hearings Board and Shoreline Hearings Board, where he served before moving to the commission. Danner has also been a telecommunications attorney in private practice, and counsel to the Washington Senate Energy and Utilities Committee.

Maia Melikidze

Co-Vice Chair

Ms. Melikidze, chair of the Energy Regulators Regional Association, has been a commissioner with the Georgian National Energy and Water Supply Commission for a 6-year term since 2017 and worked for former Georgia President Georgia Giorgi Margvelashvili as an economic advisor.

Francisco Salazar

ICER Coordinator

Mr. Salazar is the Coordinator of ICER. He is also founding partner of Enix, SC, a consulting firm specialized in energy regulation. In 2016, he was appointed as the first “Institute of the Americas Regional Energy Integration Non-Resident Fellow” and as executive fellow at the School of Public Policy of the University of Calgary.

During 2015-2017, he was Chair of the Mexican Chapter of the World Energy Council (WEC). In 2017 he became a member of COMEXI, the Mexican Council on Foreign Relations. During 2011-2015 he chaired the Ibero-American Energy Regulators Association (ARIAE).

Mr. Salazar holds an MSc in Public Financial Policy from the London School of Economics and Political Science, a BSc in Chemical Engineering from the Autonomous University of San Luis Potosi, and Diploma studies in Law and Economics from other universities.

Rashmi Somasekharan Nair

Co-Chair of the Technology and Innovation Virtual Working Group

Ms. Somasekharan Nair is the Deputy Chief (Regulatory Affairs) of the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) from 2014 to present as part of the team working on the Generic Renewable Energy Tariff Orders. She is also working in the SAFIR Secretariat.

Previously, she held positions as Deputy Director of Tariff in the Tamil Nadu Electricity Regulatory Commission (TNERC). She worked on subsidy orders and true up of past subsidies for the licensees. She also conducted analysis of license fees and Power purchases, Sales and Resource.

She holds a Master in Business Administration and a Bachelor of Commerce from the Osmania University.

Carolyn Calwell

Co-Chair of the Technology and Innovation Virtual Working Group

Carolyn Calwell became the Ontario Energy Board’s Chief Corporate Services Officer & General Counsel in April 2021. Ms. Calwell brings to the organization deep energy sector expertise and a proven track record in public administration. She has served in senior leadership roles in legal services and energy policy, most recently as an Assistant Deputy Minister at the Ontario Ministry of Energy, Northern Development and Mines. Prior to that Ms. Calwell served in progressively senior legal roles and was Legal Director at the Ontario Ministries of Energy, Economic Development and Growth, Research, Innovation and Science, and Infrastructure. Ms. Calwell has an Honours B.A. in Geography & Politics from Queen’s University and she earned her LL.B at Osgoode Hall before joining a large law firm in Toronto.

Nouri Hajri

Chair of the Hydrogen Virtual Working Group

Noura Hajri is head of department in charge of market monitoring & analysis and quality control at the Moroccan National Electricity Regulatory Authority (ANRE).
In addition to her role at ANRE, Noura is actively involved in international collaborations. She is a core member of the green hydrogen task force led by ANRE within MEDREG and a member of MEDREG’s renewable energy sources’ working group (RES WG).
Prior to joining ANRE, Noura served as a technical advisor to the Moroccan Ministry of Energy on behalf of an international development organization. Her advisory services supported Morocco's legal and institutional reforms towards the development of renewable energies and opening Morocco's electricity market to private investors. Her track record also extends to renewable energy project financing at an international development bank, where she participated to the financing of one of the world's largest solar energy projects, the Noor Ouarzazate solar complex.
Noura holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering and a master’s degree in Sustainable Energy Management from Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane, Morocco. She is also a graduate of the Florence School of Regulation's Energy Utility Regulation Program.
Noura is fluent in Arabic, English, French, and Romanian.

Andrea Lenauer

Chair of Women in Energy

Ms Andrea Lenauer is Senior International Relations Advisor at the Austrian regulatory authority E-Control. For 20 years now, she has put a lot of energy and passion into international cooperation of regulatory authorities in Europe and beyond and set up the CEER representation Brussels. She was also a pioneer in the Energy Community, acting as Head of Section for the Energy Community Regulatory Board (ECRB). Since 2016, she has shared her knowledge about the process of liberalisation and European regulation and her international experience with mentees in the ICER Women in Energy programme and has most recently started a series of interviews with women about their personal success stories within ERRA. Since 2021, she has elaborated a new programme for women in the energy sector (WIE) as ICER Vice Chair, placing mid-career women worldwide at its centre. Since June 2023, Ms Lenauer has been the acting WIE Chair of the ICER Women in Energy Programme (peer coaching, gender-disaggregated reporting, communication and networking).

Nadia Horstmann

Co-Vice Chair of Women in Energy

Erin Hammel

Co-Vice Chair of Women in Energy

Ms. Hammel has led NARUC’s International Programs since 1999 and has overall responsibility for the management of NARUC’s cooperative agreements with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the U.S. Department of State, and other U.S. and international donors. NARUC’s international projects have worked with more than 50 energy regulators in emerging economies over the years, to advance energy reform efforts and promote transparent regulatory good practices. Erin has led NARUC’s efforts to create more systematic projects to support more gender equity in the energy sector by focusing on skills development at the individual level and institutional change from participating international energy regulators. The USAID and NARUC Advancing Women Leaders in Energy (AWLE) initiative focuses on mid-career training, human resource policies, internships, mentoring, and women in energy associations. In August 2023, she was elected as Co Vice Chair of ICER’s Women in Energy initiative.

World Forum of Energy Regulation - WFER