JEA says its executive leadership team is now complete.
The city-owned utility announced Aug. 17 it hired Laura Schepis as chief external affairs officer.
Schepis will manage JEA’s government affairs, media relations, communications, environmental operations and compliance monitoring departments with a $283,254 annual salary, according to a news release.
Schepis, 50, was senior director of National Security Policy for the Edison Electric Institute in Washington, D.C., for the past three years where she focused on industry preparation for natural disasters and attacks on the energy grid, the release says.
Schepis also held leadership roles at Partnership for Affordable Clean Energy and the American Public Power Association and is a University of Georgia law school graduate.
JEA Managing Director and CEO Jay Stowe has appointed seven executives since announcing in February he would restructure the utility’s senior-level staff.
Stowe became JEA’s chief executive in November.
“Since joining JEA, I’ve worked to develop an unbeatable leadership team that delivers business excellence,” Stowe said.
“With Laura now completing the team, JEA is led by a solid group of executives who have legacy and institutional knowledge of our operations and are ready to lead JEA into the future.”
JEA officials say Schepis will start at JEA in late September.
Here is the complete seven-member executive team that reports directly to Stowe:
• Jody Brooks, chief administrative officer.
• Laura Dutton, chief strategy officer.
• David Emanuel, chief human resources officer.
• Raynetta Curry Marshall, chief operating officer.
• Theodore B. Phillips, chief financial officer.
• Sheila Pressley, chief customer officer.
• Laura Schepis, chief external affairs officer.
