LIPA board gets 2 new trustees as 5 other terms are set to expire
LIPA on Friday confirmed a Newsday report that two women have been appointed to its board of trustees, including former congressional candidate Nancy Goroff, as five board members’ terms are set to expire.
Also appointed to the nine-member, unpaid board was Valerie Anderson Campbell, an executive recruiter and financial expert. Both Goroff, a Stony Brook University chemistry professor, and Campbell are appointees of Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie.
They replace trustees Peter Gollon, whose term expired, and Matthew Cordaro, who died in February.
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s five appointees to the board, meanwhile, all have terms that have either already expired or will by year’s end, LIPA confirmed. Among Cuomo’s appointments was Elkan Abramowitz, who whose firm has served as counsel for Cuomo’s office in legal affairs over the years.
A spokeswoman for Gov. Kathy Hochul said the "LIPA board is being discussed and evaluated at this time and we will have more to say in the near future."
LIPA chief Tom Falcone said both new trustees bring "very strong professional backgrounds and records of service to the community," and join the board during a "critical moment for Long Island’s energy future" as it moves to all-green energy by 2040 and ponders its future with PSEG Long Island after 2020 storm failures.
Campbell has worked for more than 20 years with Fortune 500 companies on employee development and executive recruitment, and currently serves as senior recruiter and consultant for Anderson Campbell Recruiting. She also serves as Nassau director of the Long Island African American Chamber of Commerce and is vice president of membership for the Uniondale Community Land Trust. She fills a post vacated by Cordaro, a former Long Island Lighting Company executive, who long advocated for affordable rates.
Goroff served as chair of Stony Brook University’s chemistry Department from 2017 to 2019, and is a member of the National Advisory Board of the Union of Concerned Scientists. She said her new role on LIPA’s board will allow her to use her expertise as a "scientist, educator and vocal advocate on climate change to be a voice for customers and work for a clean, reliable and affordable electric grid."
Goroff and Campbell join Laureen Harris as among the relatively few women trustees named to LIPA’s board over the years. The Rev. Al Cockfield of the Rockaways filled a governor's post vacated by outgoing LIPA chairman Ralph Suozzi earlier this year. He had been one of only two African American trustees named to the board.
LIPA’s Falcone praised outgoing board member Gollon as a trustee who "affected many areas of electric service on behalf of customers, including advocating for historic advances in clean energy that will benefit LIPA customers for years to come."
Mark Harrington, a Newsday reporter since 1999, covers energy, wineries, Indian affairs and fisheries.
Out East with Doug Geed: Wine harvests, a fish market, baked treats and poinsettias NewsdayTV's Doug Geed visits two wineries and a fish market, and then it's time for holiday cheer, with a visit to a bakery and poinsettia greenhouses.
Out East with Doug Geed: Wine harvests, a fish market, baked treats and poinsettias NewsdayTV's Doug Geed visits two wineries and a fish market, and then it's time for holiday cheer, with a visit to a bakery and poinsettia greenhouses.
