Contact: Scott Bolden, 202-898-8083, sbolden@naruc.org

Indiana Commissioner Sarah Freeman to Lead NARUC Subcommittee on
Education and Research

WASHINGTON (October 25, 2019) — Commissioner Sarah Freeman of the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission was appointed as chair of the Subcommittee on Education and Research by National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners President Nick Wagner of Iowa.

Freeman was appointed by Governor Mike Pence as Commissioner on September 19, 2016, and was reappointed by Governor Eric Holcomb on December 29, 2017. She is a member of NARUC’s Committee on Critical Infrastructure and Committee on Telecommunications. She serves as Treasurer of the Board of Directors for the Organization of MISO States and is a member of the Board of Directors for the Universal Service Administrative Company and of the Advisory Board for the Financial Research Institute at the University of Missouri. She previously represented the Commission on the Board of Directors for the Organization of PJM States, Inc.

Before joining the IURC, Freeman served as a senior staff attorney with the nonpartisan Indiana Legislative Services Agency for 16 years, where she drafted utility and transportation legislation and served as counsel to numerous legislative committees. In addition, she was a member of the Executive Committee of the National Conference of State Legislatures and the NCSL Task Force on Cybersecurity.

A native Hoosier, Freeman earned her undergraduate degrees in psychology, French and political science from Indiana University – Bloomington and her juris doctor degree from the Indiana University Maurer School of Law.

Freeman succeeds Commissioner John “Butch” Howard, from the South Carolina Public Service Commission, who reached the end of his terms as chair.   

“I am honored to chair the Subcommittee on Education and Research and I thank Butch Howard for his previous leadership,” said Freeman. “I am committed to advancing the important work of this subcommittee’s educational and research goals.”

“It is my great pleasure to appoint Commissioner Sarah Freeman as the chair of the Subcommittee on Education and Research,” said Wagner. “Equipped with a dynamic team on the subcommittee, Sarah's energetic leadership is a key in providing the vision that will lead us through an important review and plan for NARUC education programs and other work of the subcommittee.”

NARUC’s eight standing committees propose resolutions that, if approved by the Board of Directors, set Association policy on congressional, federal and industry matters. The committees, populated by state public service commissioners, also hold educational sessions and panel discussions on relevant issues to best serve NARUC members. Committee and subcommittee chairs are appointed by the NARUC President for a term of one year and may be reappointed for a maximum of three consecutive terms.

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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.