Officers

Gordon van Welie

Gordon van Welie is President and Chief Executive Officer of ISO New England Inc., having previously served as the company’s Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. He joined ISO New England from Siemens Power Transmission & Distribution LLC, where he served as Vice President and General Manager of the Power Systems Control Division and was responsible for managing information technology solutions for electric companies. Before coming to Siemens, Mr. van Welie held several positions at ESKOM, South Africa’s electric utility based in Johannesburg. Mr. van Welie is a member of the Executive Committee of the US National Committee of CIGRE and the Member Representatives Committee of the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC). In 2016, he was awarded the Leadership in Power Award from the IEEE Power & Energy Society.

Vamsi Chadalavada

Dr. Vamsi Chadalavada is Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer and is responsible for System Operations, Wholesale Markets Development and Operations, System Planning, Information Services, and Program Management. He previously served as the company’s Senior Vice President, Market and System Solutions, and was responsible for Wholesale Markets Development, Information Services and Program Management. Before joining ISO New England in 2004, Dr. Chadalavada held a number of positions at Siemens Power Transmission and Distribution, most recently as Vice President and General Manager of Siemens’ Energy Management and Information Systems (EMIS). In that position, he was responsible for operations, services, development, sales, and marketing for Siemens’ EMIS in North America and select regions of Europe, Asia, and South America.

Jamshid A. Afnan

As Vice President, Information and Cyber Security Services, Jamshid A. Afnan is responsible for ISO New England’s information technology (IT) functions. He directs the information and data integrity of the organization as well as all information systems (IS) functions, including data centers, technical service centers, physical and cyber security, production scheduling, software development, and systems operations. Before joining ISO New England in 1997 to manage IT functions, Mr. Afnan was Manager of Computer Support Services for the New England Power Pool.

Peter T. Brandien

Peter Brandien serves as Vice President, System Operations, and is responsible for the day-to-day operations of New England’s bulk power system. Mr. Brandien oversees transaction management, outage coordination, unit commitment, economic dispatch, system restoration, operator training, certain compliance functions, and development of operating procedures. Prior to joining ISO New England in 2004, he spent 17 years at Northeast Utilities, most recently as Director of Transmission Operations. Mr. Brandien served in the US Navy as a submarine nuclear propulsion plant operator/electrician.

Janice S. Dickstein

As Vice President, Human Resources, Ms. Dickstein is responsible for developing and implementing the company’s human resources strategy. Prior to joining ISO New England in 2004, Ms. Dickstein spent 19 years at CIGNA Corporation, where she held positions of increasing responsibility in the information technology and human resources divisions. Ms. Dickstein began her career in Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company’s information technology area, serving as a programmer and systems analyst.

Robert Ethier

As Vice President, Market Operations, Robert Ethier is responsible for the administration of the wholesale electricity markets in New England. Dr. Ethier previously served as Vice President, Market Development, and before that, as the Director of Resource Adequacy and Director of Market Monitoring. He also led the ISO’s efforts to implement the initial Forward Capacity Auction. Prior to joining ISO New England, Dr. Ethier consulted for Stratus Consulting Inc., and Hagler Bailly Consulting, Inc. He has authored papers on electricity price volatility, electricity auctions, and asset valuation, including papers in The Energy Journal, Land Economics, and the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management.

Anne C. George

As Vice President, External Affairs and Corporate Communications, Anne C. George directs ISO New England’s outreach to and communications with public officials, stakeholders, and the media. Before joining the ISO in 2008, she served five years as a Commissioner of the Connecticut Public Utility Control. During this time, Ms. George was active in national and regional bodies, serving as Chair of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners’ Committee on Electricity and as President of the New England Conference of Public Utility Commissioners. Prior to her role at the Connecticut PUC, Ms. George served as the Governor’s Special Counsel on Energy and Chief Legal Counsel.

Maria Gulluni

As Vice President, General Counsel, and Corporate Secretary, Maria Gulluni is the principal legal adviser for ISO New England. She joined the ISO in 2000 as Senior Counsel and was subsequently promoted to Assistant General Counsel, then Deputy General Counsel. In this role, she was responsible for overseeing all corporate and market-related legal issues. Ms. Gulluni began her legal career as an associate in the Corporate Department at Shipman & Goodwin in Hartford, Connecticut, where she focused on mergers, acquisitions, and corporate transactions. She currently serves as the Chair of the Board of Trustees of Academy Hill School in Springfield, Massachusetts and is a member of the Board of Directors of the YMCA of Greater Springfield.

Mark Karl

As Vice President, Market Development, Mark Karl is responsible for the design and development of wholesale electricity markets and oversees the functions of Wholesale Markets Strategy, Demand Resources Strategy, NEPOOL Markets Committee coordination, and Market Rules Integration. Mr. Karl previously served as Senior Director of Resource Adequacy in the ISO’s System Planning Department, where he was responsible for the operation of the Forward Capacity Auction, development of the load forecast and installed capacity requirements, and the auction qualification process. Prior to that, he served as Director of Market Development and Integration, designing markets and representing the ISO in stakeholder, regulatory, and legislative processes. Before joining the ISO in 2000, Mr. Karl was at Duquesne Light Company in Pittsburgh for nearly 20 years as a key member in Duquesne’s participation in Pennsylvania’s transition to competitive markets, interacting extensively with state regulators, and holding various roles, including engineer at fossil and nuclear plants, finance and strategic planning, and regulatory and economic analysis.

Robert C. Ludlow

Robert Ludlow is Vice President and Chief Financial and Compliance Officer. He serves on the company’s Audit & Finance Committee as well as the Budget & Finance Committee of the New England Power Pool. Mr. Ludlow has more than 21 years of experience in the energy and accounting fields. He came to ISO New England in 1997 from Western Beef, Inc., where he held the position of Chief Financial Officer. Previously, Mr. Ludlow was a partner at Marden, Harrison & Kreuter, a CPA firm located in metropolitan New York.

Jeffrey McDonald

As Vice President, Market Monitoring, Dr. McDonald serves as the company’s Internal Market Monitor. He also focuses on addressing long-term market challenges. Dr. McDonald joined the ISO in 2014 after over a decade in the California ISO’s Department of Market Monitoring, where he led the Market Monitoring & Reporting Group and the Market Analysis & Mitigation Group. While there, he was instrumental in advancing the analysis of market performance, design of new and enhanced market instruments, development of advanced tools for monitoring and detection, and investigation of uncompetitive market participation. Prior to that, Dr. McDonald worked for the State of California as a Staff Economist in the Department of Industrial Relations and the Department of Transportation.

Stephen J. Rourke

Stephen J. Rourke has served as Vice President, System Planning for ISO New England since 2006, having previously served as the company’s Director, Reliability & Operations Services. A former manager of the Rhode Island-Eastern Massachusetts-Vermont Energy Control center (REMVEC) in Westborough, MA, and former manager of marketing operations for Northeast Utilities/Select Energy in Berlin, CT, Rourke has over 35 years of experience in operation and planning of the New England bulk power system and operation and administration of the region’s wholesale power markets. He oversees ISO New England’s regional and interregional planning process, including development of the biennial Regional System Plan, analysis of new transmission and generation projects for New England, implementation of the FERC‑approved generator interconnection process, development of ISO findings for Transmission Cost Allocation, the execution of regional economic planning studies requested by stakeholders, and operation and support of the Forward Capacity Market in New England. Rourke previously served in support of NEPOOL as Chairman of both the Reliability and Transmission committees. He currently serves as a member of the Board of Trustees for Western New England University (WNEU) in Springfield, MA, and is a Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE).