FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Matt Welch (512) 417-8084
[email protected]
BARRY SMITHERMAN JOINS ADVISORY BOARD OF CONSERVATIVE TEXANS FOR ENERGY INNOVATION
Former Chairman of the Public Utility Commission of Texas and the Texas Railroad Commission Brings Decades of Energy and Electricity Expertise
AUSTIN, TEXAS (January 14, 2025) . . . Conservative Texans for Energy Innovation (CTEI) announced today that Barry Smitherman has joined the organization’s Advisory Board. Smitherman has deep experience in the energy/electricity nexus having served as Chairman of the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) and the Texas Railroad Commission. Smitherman is the only person in Texas history to have chaired both organizations.
He is the founder and managing partner of 6S Capitol Group, an Austin-Texas based legislative and regulatory consulting firm. Chairman, President, and co-founder of the Texas Geothermal Energy Alliance (TxGEA), an organization dedicated to education, public awareness, and advocacy on behalf of the Texas geothermal industry. Barry served as an independent director of CenterPoint Energy, an electric and gas delivery utility headquartered in Houston, Texas from 2020-2024. He also served as an independent director of NRG, a merchant power producer and retail electric provider, headquartered in Houston from 2017-2018. Prior to joining the NRG Board of Directors, Barry was a partner in the energy regulatory group of Vinson & Elkins.
Smitherman served two terms on the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Electricity Advisory Committee, the Board of Directors of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC,) Chairman of the NARUC Gas Committee, the ERCOT Board of Directors, the Southern States Energy Board, the Interstate Oil & Gas Compact Commission, and the Regional State Committee of the Southwest Power Pool.
Prior to beginning public service, Barry spent 16 years as an investment banker, holding leadership positions with J.P. Morgan Securities, Lazard, The First Boston Corporation, and Banc One Capital Markets (now part of JP Morgan Chase), where he was a Managing Director and National Head of the Public Finance group. During this time, he led the capital markets offering of over $7.5 billion in tax-exempt bonds and notes on behalf of state and local governments.
Barry Smitherman serves as an adjunct professor of energy law at the University of Texas and was chosen as a Distinguished Alumnus for Community Service by the Texas Law Alumni Association in 2023. Smitherman received his J.D. from The University of Texas School of Law, his M.P.A. from Harvard University, and his B.B.A. summa cum laude from Texas A&M University.
Matt Welch, State Director of CTEI, said, “we are incredibly fortunate and very appreciative that Barry has joined our organization. As an energy leader who worked tirelessly to bring about our deregulated energy market, his institutional knowledge of energy policy in Texas is a tremendous resource and will be invaluable toward our future efforts.”
Welch added, “As conservatives, we fundamentally believe free markets are the key to job creation, continued innovation, and technological advancements across the energy spectrum. In contrast, the proposed massive ‘Green New Deal,’ would wreck the national economy and erode our personal freedoms in the process. Draconian, unworkable proposals underscore the need for conservatives to lead on clean energy. When we fail to offer constructive solutions to our challenges, it makes big-government outcomes more likely.”
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CTEI is a non-profit clean energy education and advocacy organization launched to promote energy innovation and clean energy policies grounded in the conservative principle of common sense, market-based solutions that allow fair competition and provide greater access to clean, affordable, and reliable energy.
For more information, visit Conservative Texans for Energy Innovation at www.conservativetexansforenergyinnovation.org. Like us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/cnsrvtxns4nrg/ and follow us on Twitter @cnsrvtxns4nrg .
