Media Contact: Regina Davis, rdavis@naruc.org

Missouri’s Ryan Silvey Named Co-Vice Chair

WASHINGTON (July 11, 2022) — The National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners has announced the appointments of Commissioner Jeff Hughes of the North Carolina Utilities Commission and Chairman Ryan A. Silvey of the Missouri Public Service Commission as the chairman and co-vice chair, respectively, of the Association’s Committee on Water.

Hughes replaces Commissioner Maria Bocanegra, who recently resigned from the Illinois Commerce Commission. He was appointed to the Utilities Commission in 2019 and previously served as a member of the University of North Carolina School of Government faculty since 2002. He has more than 25 years of experience assisting communities in addressing finance and policy challenges related to the provision of environmental services and programs. Hughes holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering from Duke University and a master’s degree in water resources engineering from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

“I’m honored to have been appointed chair to a committee that focuses on a topic that I am so passionate about,” said Hughes. “I look forward to working with the co-chairs and other committee members on the many water and wastewater regulatory challenges facing commissions across the country.”

Silvey joins Arizona Corporation Commission Chairwoman Lea Márquez Peterson as co-vice chair. He was appointed to the Missouri PSC in 2018 and was later appointed as chairman. He served previously as a Missouri State Senator, where he presided as chairman of the Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection, Energy and the Environment, which handled legislation on utility regulation. Silvey graduated from Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina.

“We are pleased to welcome Commissioner Hughes and Chairman Silvey into their new roles. They each possess a wealth of related knowledge and have excellent leadership skills, as they join Chairwoman Márquez Peterson in heading the Committee on Water,” said NARUC President Judith Williams Jagdmann. “I want to personally thank Commissioner Maria Bocanegra for her exceptional tenure as chair of the committee.”

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 develop and carry out a range of educational sessions on relevant issues to best serve NARUC members. 

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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.