SVP Regulatory Oversight
Howard Gugel is Senior Vice President of Regulatory Oversight at the North American Electric Reliability Corporation.
The North American Electric Reliability Corporation, better known as NERC, held its Trades Meeting and Executive Committee Meeting in mid-October in Washington, D.C. NERC’s mission is to assure the effective and efficient reduction of risks to the reliability and security of the grid. PUF Executive Editor Steve Mitnick discussed achieving that with NERC CEO Jim Robb, Chief Engineer Mark Lauby, General Counsel Sonia Rocha, Senior Vice President of Strategy and External Engagement Camilo Serna, and Senior Vice President of Regulatory Oversight Howard Gugel.
PUF’s Steve Mitnick: What’s your position and what do you do on a typical day?
Howard Gugel: I’m not sure I can identify a typical day, but I’m the Senior Vice President of Regulatory Oversight. So, compliance monitoring, enforcement, registration, and certification all report to me. We have delegated a lot of those functions to our six Regional Entities, and we have an oversight role with that.
We make sure that the Regional Entities work efficiently. They’re closer to the utilities. As they audit and engage with them, we ensure it’s done somewhat consistently across North America. As noncompliance with the standards is discovered, we work to ensure that also is treated in a consistent manner across North America.