SAN DIEGO, June 1, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Anne Shen Smith has been elected president and CEO of Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas), a unit of Sempra Energy (NYSE: SRE), the company announced today.

Effective immediately, Smith, currently chief operating officer of SoCalGas, is succeeding Michael W. Allman, who has resigned from the position and will be leaving the company.

"We are pleased to have a deep management team with an outstanding leader like Anne Smith who can step into the CEO role at SoCalGas," said Debra L. Reed, CEO of Sempra Energy.  "Anne's broad experience in operations, customer service, and environmental and safety management has prepared her well to lead SoCalGas at this time.  We appreciate all of Mike Allman's contributions to the Sempra companies during his 14-year career and wish him well."

Smith, who joined SoCalGas in 1977 as an operations research analyst, has served in a broad range of management roles during her 35-year career at the company.  She has served as SoCalGas' chief operating officer since 2010.  Previously, she was senior vice president of customer services for SoCalGas and SDG&E from 2004 to 2010.   From 1991 to 2004, she served in a variety of executive roles at SoCalGas.

Smith serves on the boards of directors for the UC Davis Energy Efficiency Center and California league of Conservation Voters Education Fund and also on the executive advisory board of the Asian Pacific American Legal Center.

Smith emigrated from Taiwan in the mid-1960s.  She holds a master's degree in operations research from the University of California, Berkeley, and a bachelor's degree in industrial engineering from the University of Michigan.

SoCalGas is the nation's largest natural gas distribution utility, providing service to 20.9 million consumers connected through nearly 5.8 million meters in more than 500 communities. The company's service territory encompasses approximately 20,000 square miles throughout central and Southern California, from Visalia to the Mexican border.

Sempra Energy, based in San Diego, is a Fortune 500 energy services holding company with 2011 revenues of $10 billion. The Sempra Energy companies' 17,500 employees serve more than 31 million consumers worldwide.

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SOURCE Sempra Energy