[BETA] Fortnightly

The board of the California ISO selected Jeffrey D. Tranen as its first CEO. Tranen is former president of the New England Power Co., senior v.p. of the New England Electric System and chair of NEPOOL. The ISO starts operation Jan. 1, 1998.

Charles F. Gay, Ph.D., former director of the DOE's National Renewable Energy Laboratory, was hired as president and CEO of ASE Americas Inc. Klaus Albrecht, former president and CEO, will serve on ASE's board and as senior v.p.-business development. Gay served as NREL director since 1995; prior to that, he was president of Siemens Solar Industries in the U.S.

Ahmad Faruqui joined the Electric Power Research Institute as manager, market management, to research retail pricing, customer choice and competitor analysis. He was previously a principal with Hagler Bailey Consulting.

The Atlanta Gas Light Co. board elected Thomas H. Benson president. Benson will continue to work as executive v.p. of AGL Resources.

Michael Rescoe was hired as chief financial officer at PG&E Corp. He had worked for ENSERCH Corp. in the same post. He succeeds Gordon Smith, who became CEO of PG&E's utility subsidiary, Pacific Gas & Electric Co.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission promoted Thomas T. Martin to director of the Office for Analysis and Evaluation of Operational Data. He succeeds Denwood F. Ross Jr., who was named special assistant to the director of the Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research.

William Ring replaced the retired Louis Mirando as president of the Long Island Water Corp. He joined the company in 1990.

MidAmerican Energy has a new executive v.p.-generation: Wayne Smith. Smith came from B.F. Goodrich Co.'s specialty chemicals business. He stepped into the position filled by the retired Steve Shelton.

H. Jarrell Gibbs was named vice chair of Texas Utilities Co. He was formerly president of TU Electric. Texas Utilities also announced two changes prompted by the company's merger with ENSERCH Corp. Erle Nye, chair and CEO of Texas Utilities, will head the new organization. David Biegler, former chair, president and CEO of ENSERCH, will be president and COO of Texas Utilities.

Rick J. Caruso was elected president of the Los Angeles Board of Water and Power Commissioners, returning to the office he held from 1986 to 1990. Caruso is an attorney and developer.

Unicom Corp., parent of Commonwealth Edison, has lost vice chair Leo F. Mullin to Delta Air Lines Inc. where he'll be president and CEO.

The Tennessee Valley Authority hired James Keiffer as senior v.p. of marketing. He was v.p. of transportation supply and producer services with CNG Energy Services Corp.

CNG Energy Services moved Robert M. Sable Jr. from its parent company, Consolidated Natural Gas Co. to fill the post of senior v.p. and CFO. Sable had served as CNG treasurer. CNG made three other staffing changes: Barbara A. Schran was promoted from senior compensation analyst to compensation consultant; Sherrie L. Holloway moved up from supervisor, general accounting to manager, international accounting and budgeting; and Bruce E. Plichta was promoted from international financial analyst to project finance director.

Keith G. Stamm replaced the retired Harvey Parker