Sacramento Municipal Utility District names veteran employee Paul Lau as its new CEO
After a national search for a new chief executive officer, the board of the Sacramento Municipal Utility District announced Monday that veteran SMUD employee Paul Lau was selected as the utility’s next leader.
“I’m honored and humbled to be chosen by the board of directors to lead this great organization and continue SMUD’s reputation for community leadership and excellence,” said Lau, who has served as the chief grid strategy and operations officer at the utility since 2015.
Board members will make the appointment official at their Sept. 10 meeting, and Lau will succeed Arlen Orchard, another longtime SMUD employee, as CEO and general manager on Oct. 3. Lau has been on the executive leadership team at SMUD for 12 years.
Orchard will depart Oct. 2. He announced his retirement last fall from a company where he has worked for more than 30 years.
Rob Kerth, president of SMUD’s board of directors, said the position drew several strong candidates who expressed a desire to work for a utility that was taking progressive steps forward in the use of clean energy.
“It was clear Paul was the best choice to navigate SMUD through a pivotal time for the electric utility industry as customers seek clean energy sources and expect utilities to reduce their carbon footprint while ensuring service remains reliable and rates affordable,” Kerth said. “His vision to meet the urgent challenges of climate change through collaboration and partnership will help take SMUD’s reputation for environmental leadership to the next level.”
Lau was hired by SMUD in 1982, when he was an electrical engineering student completing a bachelor’s degree in engineering at California State University, Sacramento. He joined SMUD permanently as an assistant electrical engineer upon graduation in 1984.
Lau is a familiar face to board members as vice chair of their Large Public Power Council Emerging Trends Task Force. He also serves as an alternate commissioner of the Balancing Authority of Northern California.
While holding his C-suite position, Lau also has served as a board member for a number of industry and civic organizations: the Smart Electric Power Alliance, the Electric Transportation Community Development Corp, the Sacramento State University Foundation, Los Rios Colleges Foundation and the Sacramento Asian-Pacific Chamber of Commerce.
Lau joins Dewey K.K. Lowe as one of the few Asian Americans to be SMUD’s general manager. Lowe served for about a year in the mid-1980s.
