Barry Smitherman was appointed by Governor Rick Perry to the PUCT on April 21, 2004. He was reappointed on September 13, 2007 and promoted to Chairman on November 14, 2007. He was recently awarded the State Leadership award by the American Wind Energy Association for the PUCT’s pioneering renewable energy zone policy for proactive transmission development.
Barry is a member of the State Bar of Texas, a member of the Governor’s Competitiveness Council, an ex officio board member of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) and the Texas Regional Entity (TRE), a member of the Regional State Committee (RSC) for the Southwest Power Pool (SPP), a member of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) Committee on Energy Resources and the Environment, served as one of 30 members of the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Electricity Advisory Committee (EAC) and is Vice-Chairman of the Texas Advisory Panel on Federal Environmental Regulations.
Barry received a BBA summa cum laude from Texas A&M University, and his J.D. from The University of Texas School of Law while working at the State Capitol for Senator Lindon Williams. Afterward he received a M.P.A. at Harvard University and was awarded the first Joel Leff Fellowship in Political Economy by the Kennedy School of Government.
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