Commissioner
Leo Asuncion is a commissioner at the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission.
PUF: How long have you been a Commissioner?
Commissioner Asuncion: I have some background in utilities and have worked at Hawaiian Electric about ten years ago now. I left ten years ago, and I was there about six years. I started my career in this state.
I'm a planner by training. I started my career in state government, worked around eleven years, and moved around different agencies, including working for the state judiciary.
After about eleven years, I decided to jump into the private sector. So, I ended up at a small engineering firm. One day I got a call from Hawaiian Electric and they said, we've got room for a planner, specifically in doing IRP, integrated resource planning. For about six years, I did both IRP planning and then was part of the regulatory team.
I had a lot of different opportunities. Former Governor Abercrombie, when he was Governor, about eight years ago, asked me to come and run the state's coastal program. I did that for about four or five years. Then in the last year of Governor Abercrombie's term, he appointed me as the state's Planning Director.
The state energy office was our sister agency. We were all in the economic development department. I did that for five years and then we had a new Governor. He kept me on as the Planning Director and when he came to the second term, he asked all of his appointees, what do you want to do next?