SAN DIEGO, Sept. 10, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The board of directors of Sempra Energy (NYSE: SRE) today announced that CEO Jeffrey W. Martin has been elected chairman of the company, effective Dec. 1. Martin will succeed Debra L. Reed, who is retiring from Sempra Energy Dec. 1, as previously announced.

Martin, 56, has served as Sempra Energy's CEO since May.

"Early in his tenure as CEO, Jeff Martin has outlined a new strategy to focus on – and grow – Sempra Energy's North American business," said William C. Rusnack, lead independent director for Sempra Energy. "Jeff also has implemented important steps to further optimize the company's diversified business portfolio. Our board of directors strongly believes Jeff will provide the leadership necessary to continue to create long-term value for our shareholders and other key stakeholders by serving in the dual role of chairman and CEO."

In his 13 years with the Sempra Energy family of companies, Martin has held a variety of increasingly responsible leadership positions. Prior to becoming Sempra Energy's CEO in May, he was executive vice president and chief financial officer of Sempra Energy. Previously, from 2014 through 2016, Martin was CEO of San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E). From 2010 through 2013, Martin was president and CEO of Sempra U.S. Gas & Power and Sempra Generation, the predecessor companies of Sempra Energy's renewable energy and midstream businesses. Prior to that, he was vice president of investor relations for Sempra Energy. He first joined Sempra Energy in 2004 as a principal working in Sempra Energy's mergers and acquisitions group.

Prior to joining Sempra Energy, Martin was chief financial officer of NewEnergy, Inc. He also previously served as corporate counsel at UniSource Energy and was an attorney at the law firm of Snell & Wilmer, focusing on corporate and commercial finance and real estate.

Martin currently serves on the board of directors of Oncor Electric Delivery Company LLC. He also is on the Business Roundtable and the board of trustees of the University of San Diego. Martin recently served on the boards of directors of the Edison Electric Institute, California Chamber of Commerce and National Association of Manufacturers. 

Martin holds a bachelor's degree from the United States Military Academy at West Point, a master's degree in public administration from the University of Texas, El Paso, and a law degree from the University of Miami.

Sempra Energy, a San Diego-based energy services holding company with 2017 revenues of more than $11 billion, is the utility holding company with the largest U.S. customer base. The Sempra Energy companies' approximately 20,000 employees serve more than 40 million consumers worldwide.

This press release contains statements that are not historical fact and constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements can be identified by words such as "believes," "expects," "anticipates," "plans," "estimates," "projects," "forecasts," "contemplates," "assumes," "depends," "should," "could," "would," "will," "confident," "may," "can," "potential," "possible," "proposed," "target," "pursue," "outlook," "maintain," or similar expressions or discussions of guidance, strategies, plans, goals, opportunities, projections, initiatives, objectives or intentions. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of performance. They involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Future results may differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements.

Factors, among others, that could cause our actual results and future actions to differ materially from those described in any forward-looking statements include risks and uncertainties relating to: actions and the timing of actions, including decisions, new regulations, and issuances of permits and other authorizations by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), U.S. Department of Energy, California Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, Public Utility Commission of Texas, states, cities and counties, and other regulatory and governmental bodies in the United States and other countries in which we operate; the timing and success of business development efforts and construction projects, including risks in obtaining or maintaining permits and other authorizations on a timely basis, risks in completing construction projects on schedule and on budget, and risks in obtaining the consent and participation of partners and counterparties; the resolution of civil and criminal litigation and regulatory investigations; deviations from regulatory precedent or practice that result in a reallocation of benefits or burdens among shareholders and ratepayers; denial of approvals of proposed settlements or modifications of settlements; and delays in, or disallowance or denial of, regulatory agency authorizations to recover costs in rates from customers (including with respect to amounts associated with the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station facility and 2007 wildfires) or regulatory agency approval for projects required to enhance safety and reliability, any of which may raise our cost of capital and materially impair our ability to finance our operations; the greater degree and prevalence of wildfires in California in recent years and risk that we may be found liable for damages regardless of fault, such as in cases where inverse condemnation applies, and risk that we may not be able to recover any such costs in rates from customers in California; the availability of electric power, natural gas and liquefied natural gas, and natural gas pipeline and storage capacity, including disruptions caused by failures in the transmission grid, moratoriums or limitations on the withdrawal or injection of natural gas from or into storage facilities, and equipment failures; changes in energy markets; volatility in commodity prices; moves to reduce or eliminate reliance on natural gas; and the impact on the value of our investments in natural gas storage and related assets from low natural gas prices, low volatility of natural gas prices and the inability to procure favorable long-term contracts for storage services; risks posed by actions of third parties who control the operations of our investments, and risks that our partners or counterparties will be unable or unwilling to fulfill their contractual commitments; weather conditions, natural disasters, accidents, equipment failures, computer system outages, explosions, terrorist attacks and other events that disrupt our operations, damage our facilities and systems, cause the release of greenhouse gases, radioactive materials and harmful emissions, cause wildfires and subject us to third-party liability for property damage or personal injuries, fines and penalties, some of which may not be covered by insurance (including costs in excess of applicable policy limits), may be disputed by insurers or may otherwise not be recoverable through regulatory mechanisms or may impact our ability to obtain satisfactory levels of insurance, to the extent that such insurance is available or not prohibitively expensive; cybersecurity threats to the energy grid, storage and pipeline infrastructure, the information and systems used to operate our businesses and the confidentiality of our proprietary information and the personal information of our customers and employees; our ability to successfully execute our plan to divest certain non-strategic assets on the anticipated timeframe, if at all, or that such plan may not yield the anticipated benefits; capital markets and economic conditions, including the availability of credit and the liquidity of our investments; and fluctuations in inflation, interest and currency exchange rates and our ability to effectively hedge the risk of such fluctuations; the impact of recent federal tax reform and uncertainty as to how it may be applied, and our ability to mitigate adverse impacts; actions by credit rating agencies to downgrade our credit ratings or those of our subsidiaries or to place those ratings on negative outlook; changes in foreign and domestic trade policies and laws, including border tariffs, and revisions to international trade agreements, such as the North American Free Trade Agreement, that make us less competitive or impair our ability to resolve trade disputes; the ability to win competitively bid infrastructure projects against a number of strong and aggressive competitors; expropriation of assets by foreign governments and title and other property disputes; the impact on reliability of San Diego Gas & Electric Company's (SDG&E) electric transmission and distribution system due to increased amount and variability of power supply from renewable energy sources; the impact on competitive customer rates due to the growth in distributed and local power generation and the corresponding decrease in demand for power delivered through SDG&E's electric transmission and distribution system and from possible departing retail load resulting from customers transferring to Direct Access and Community Choice Aggregation or other forms of distributed and local power generation, and the potential risk of nonrecovery for stranded assets and contractual obligations; the ability to realize the anticipated benefits from our investment in Oncor Electric Delivery Holdings Company LLC (Oncor Holdings); the ability to obtain additional permanent equity financing for the acquisition of our investment in Oncor Holdings on favorable terms; indebtedness we have incurred to fund the acquisition of our investment in Oncor Holdings, which may make it more difficult for us to repay or refinance our debt or may require us to take other actions that may decrease business flexibility and increase borrowing costs; Oncor Electric Delivery Company LLC's (Oncor) ability to eliminate or reduce its quarterly dividends due to its requirement to meet and maintain its regulatory capital structure, or because any of the three major credit rating agencies rates Oncor's senior secured debt securities below BBB (or the equivalent) or Oncor's independent directors or a minority member director determine it is in the best interest of Oncor to retain such amounts to meet future capital expenditures; and other uncertainties, some of which may be difficult to predict and are beyond our control.

These risks and uncertainties are further discussed in the reports that Sempra Energy has filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). These reports are available through the EDGAR system free-of-charge on the SEC's website, www.sec.gov. Investors should not rely unduly on any forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof, and the company undertakes no obligation to update or revise these forecasts or projections or other forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Sempra South American Utilities, Sempra North American Infrastructure, Sempra LNG & Midstream, Sempra Renewables, Sempra Mexico, Sempra Texas Utility, Oncor Electric Delivery Company LLC (Oncor) and Infraestructura Energética Nova, S.A.B. de C.V. (IEnova) are not the same companies as the California utilities, San Diego Gas & Electric Company (SDG&E) or Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas), and Sempra South American Utilities, Sempra North American Infrastructure, Sempra LNG & Midstream, Sempra Renewables, Sempra Mexico, Sempra Texas Utility, Oncor and IEnova are not regulated by the California Public Utilities Commission.

SOURCE Sempra Energy