Phillips Announces Chairman’s Leadership Team Appointments

FERC Chairman Willie L. Phillips today made three major appointments to his FERC leadership team and introduced members of his Chairman's office staff.

"This is a strong team that will serve the Commission well as we advance FERC's mission to ensure consumers have access to reliable, safe, secure and economically efficient energy at a reasonable cost," Phillips said.

Phillips' leadership team is led by Ronan Gulstone, Chief of Staff to the Commission; Karin Herzfeld, Senior Transmission Counsel; and Stacey Steep, Senior Legal Advisor who will focus on energy projects and permitting.

Gulstone served as a Legal Advisor to then-Commissioner Phillips. Before joining FERC he served as Director of Policy and Legislative Affairs for District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser. Gulstone also has served as Manager of Government Affairs for Washington Gas, and Chief of Staff and Committee Director for District of Columbia Councilmember Kenyan R. McDuffie, whose committee had oversight of the District of Columbia Public Service Commission. He is a graduate of Howard University School of Law and the University of Toronto.

Herzfeld served as one of Phillips' legal advisors for the past year, advising on transmission and interconnection policy issues. She also served in FERC's Office of General Counsel, focusing on electricity market matters. Herzfeld was lead attorney and compliance coordinator on FERC Orders No. 2222 and 841, the landmark rulemakings removing barriers to distributed energy resource aggregations and electric storage resources in wholesale markets. Prior to her FERC service, Herzfeld worked for the Environmental Protection Agency. She is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

Steep served as a legal advisor for Phillips over the past year. Prior to that, she was the Interim Transition Lead for the FERC Office of Public Participation and was an attorney-advisor in the Office of General Counsel. Before joining FERC, Steep worked at a lobbying and consulting firm and for the U.S. House of Representatives. She is a graduate of the George Washington University Law School and Kalamazoo College.

Chairman Phillips also introduced members of his office staff: Grace Hu, Technical Advisor; Jamond D. Perry, Legal Advisor; Nicole Businelli; Technical Advisor; and Michelle Brown, Confidential Assistant.