The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission on Thursday appointed Jennifer Berrier, the former secretary of Labor & Industry under Gov. Tom Wolf, as the agency’s new executive director.
Berrier takes over leadership of the agency on Sept. 11.
The PUC regulates electric, natural gas, pipeline, rail, telecommunications, water and wastewater services. It also handles consumer rates, complaints and safety issues surrounding those utilities.
Berrier has spent nearly two decades in various roles at the state Department of Labor & Industry, culminating with her December 2020 appointment by Wolf as the department’s secretary, at the height of the covid-19 pandemic.
Berrier succeeds PUC Executive Director Seth Mendelsohn, who served in that role from May 2019 to January. Mendelsohn left the agency to join the law firm Saxton & Stump as senior counsel.
The PUC’s Director of Administration Robert Gramola served as acting executive director since Mendelsohn’s departure.
Berrier holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from York College of Pennsylvania and a law degree from Widener University.
