Professor Bhagwat Elected Chair of California ISO Board

The California Independent System Operator (ISO) board of governors elected Professor Ashutosh Bhagwat as its new chair.

The ISO is a public benefit corporation responsible for running the high-voltage electricity grid in California. Bhagwat is now serving his third term on the board, to which he first was appointed by Gov. Jerry Brown in 2011.

“I am honored my colleagues selected me as the new chair of the ISO Board of Governors, and I want to thank Angelina Galiteva for her leadership this past year,” Bhagwat said in a press release about his new role.  “I look forward to continuing to work with my fellow board members, the ISO’s team, and our stakeholders and partners to extend the day-ahead market, support the state’s carbon-free goals while maintaining grid reliability, and providing excellent customer service.”

Ashutosh Bhagwat, Boochever and Bird Endowed Chair for the Study and Teaching of Freedom and Equality, and Martin Luther King Jr. Professor of Law at UC Davis School of Law, is an innovative, broad-ranging, and widely published constitutional law scholar. He is the author of the 2020 book Our Democratic First Amendment (Cambridge University Press).