Board of Directors

Cheryl LaFleur, Board chair

Cheryl LaFleur joined the ISO New England Board in 2019 and was named chair in 2021. She is a former commissioner and chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), having been nominated by President Barack Obama in 2010 and confirmed by the Senate for a second term in 2014. Before her FERC tenure, LaFleur served as executive vice president and acting CEO at National Grid USA. She held other executive positions at National Grid USA, and its predecessor, New England Electric System, including chief operating officer, president of the New England Distribution Companies, and general counsel. She began her career as an attorney at Ropes and Gray in Boston. Currently, LaFleur serves on the advisory boards of the Columbia University Center on Global Energy Policy and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. She has a juris doctorate from Harvard Law School and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Princeton University.

Caren Anders

Caren Anders is a transmission expert who previously served as an executive advisor for Quanta Technology, where she worked with clients across the utility sector providing advisory solutions and services. Her career has included leading Duke Energy’s transmission organization, overseeing 2,100 employees responsible for serving 7 million customers. Prior to joining Duke, Anders was vice president of transmission and substations at Exelon. She has a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Pennsylvania and a Master of Business Administration degree in finance from Drexel University. She is a National Association of Corporate Directors certified director.

Brook M. Colangelo

Brook M. Colangelo is vice president and chief information officer for Waters Corp., the world’s leading specialty measurement company serving the life, materials, and food sciences industries for more than 60 years. Colangelo is responsible for driving global IT and digital business transformation. He previously served as executive vice president and first-ever chief technology officer for Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH), one of world’s leading education companies. There, he led the transformation of the company’s online teaching and learning platform. Before HMH, he served as chief information officer of the White House under President Barack Obama, responsible for modernizing, securing, and managing all aspects of the technology platforms and infrastructure supporting the first-ever digitally connected president of the United States. Earlier in his career, he led technology for the American Red Cross’s Hurricane Recovery Program. Colangelo is a founding member of the Boston Chief Information Officer Council and is a graduate of The George Washington University.

Steve Corneli

Steve Corneli is principal and owner of Strategies for Clean Energy Innovation, focusing on the efficient deployment of high levels of clean resources. His clients have included leading energy and environmental think tanks, distributed energy technology companies, and clean energy and environmental advocates. Prior to forming Strategies for Clean Energy Innovation, Corneli was senior vice president of policy, strategy, and sustainability at NRG. He previously served seven years as a consumer advocate within the Minnesota attorney general’s office. Corneli has a Bachelor of Arts degree from St. John’s College in Santa Fe, New Mexico, as well as a master’s degree in public affairs from the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey Institute, with a concentration in energy, environment, and technology policy.

Michael J. Curran

Michael J. Curran joined the ISO New England Board in 2019. Curran spent the majority of his career in the financial services and investment community, including the Boston Stock Exchange, Inc., where he was chairman and CEO. Before joining the Boston Stock Exchange, he was managing director and chief operating officer of Kemper funds and international mutual funds for Zurich Scudder Investments. Curran most recently was chair of the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) Board of Directors. He is a graduate of Dickinson College.

Catherine Flax

Catherine Flax is the president of private investing at X Machina Capital Strategies, focusing on investments related to energy transition in the oil and gas arena. She is an economist who has worked as a senior executive in the energy, power, and commodities businesses for several investment banks. During her career, Flax has served as global head of commodity finance at J.P. Morgan and managing director and head of commodities for the Americas at BNP Paribas. She has also served on a range of industry and corporate boards, as well as on advisory boards. Flax has a Bachelor of Science degree in economics and finance from Texas A&M University and a master’s degree in economics from Brown University.

Craig Ivey

Craig Ivey joined the ISO New England Board in 2023. He served as president of Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc. for nine years, retiring in 2017. While in this role, he was responsible for all aspects of the electric system that serves over 9 million New Yorkers. Ivey previously spent 25 years at Dominion Energy, rising through the ranks from a part-time position during his college years to become senior vice president of transmission and distribution. He serves on the board for Ameren Corporation, as well as the Fresh Air Fund, a nonprofit serving children in low-income communities in New York City. Ivey has a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from North Carolina State University.

Mark Vannoy

Mark Vannoy is president of Maine Water, having joined that company in 2019 as vice president after serving on the Maine Public Utilities Commission (PUC) for seven years. During his tenure at the Maine PUC, which included serving four years as chairman, Vannoy adjudicated more than 2,200 cases involving electric, gas, and water utilities. He also served as a board member of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, a member of the Critical Infrastructure and Water Committees, and board chair of the New England Utility Cybersecurity Information Collaborative. Vannoy proudly served in the US military for 20 years and is a retired US Navy officer. He is a graduate of the United States Naval Academy and has a master’s degree in civil and environmental engineering from Cornell University.

Gordon van Welie

Gordon van Welie is president and CEO of ISO New England Inc. Since joining the ISO in 2000, van Welie has been actively involved in establishing and growing advanced wholesale electricity markets and power system operations, and developing a robust system planning process for the regional grid. These efforts have been widely recognized as supporting and enabling a reliable clean energy transition in New England. Before joining ISO New England, van Welie was the vice president and general manager of the Power System Control business for Siemens, which supplies energy and distribution management systems to electric utilities. Earlier in his career, van Welie worked in various transmission and distribution control system engineering roles with the South African utility, Eskom. He is a member of ISO New England’s Board of Directors as well as a number of industry groups, including the Executive Committee of the US National Committee of CIGRE, the Member Representatives Committee of the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), the ISO/RTO Council, and the IEEE Power & Energy Society. In 2017, he was elected as a member of the National Academy of Engineering, and currently serves on the National Academies’ Board on Energy and Environmental Systems. He is the recipient of the 2024 Energy Systems Integration Group (ESIG) Excellence Award, the 2023 Attwood Associates Award for ongoing contributions to CIGRE and its US National Committee, the 2017 Utility Variable-Generation Integration (UVIG) Achievement Award, and the 2016 IEEE Power & Energy Society Leadership in Power Award.

Melvin G. Williams, Jr.

Joining the ISO Board in 2022, Melvin G. “Mel” Williams, Jr. is a former US Navy nuclear-trained submariner who held positions in command of a submarine, a submarine squadron, a submarine group, and a fleet, completing his service as a vice admiral. One of his four flag officer assignments was director of global operations at US Strategic Command, where his responsibilities included the nuclear, space, and cyberspace missions. As a presidential appointee in the Obama administration, Williams served at the US Department of Energy as the associate deputy secretary of energy, where he was responsible for day-to-day management and operational excellence. Williams recently concluded a decade working in academia, including serving as the associate dean of engineering at the Catholic University of America. Prior to this, he held the positions of associate provost at The George Washington University and research nuclear reactor consultant at the University of California, Davis. Williams has a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics from the United States Naval Academy, a Master of Science degree in engineering management from the Catholic University of America, and a certificate in national and international security from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.