SAN DIEGO, Sept. 25, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) today announced a management succession plan ahead of pending retirements in the senior management team later this year and in early 2014.

"Our ability to continue to identify and promote strong leaders has been a critical factor in our success, especially in a changing industry," said Debra L. Reed, chairman and CEO of Sempra Energy.  "We are announcing several organizational changes to continue to broaden the depth and experience of our leadership team and fill key roles of those who are retiring."

All of the new management assignments are effective Jan. 1, 2014, except where otherwise noted.

Jessie J. Knight, Jr., 62, currently chairman and CEO of San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E), will continue as chairman of SDG&E and become Sempra Energy's executive vice president of external affairs.  On March 1, 2014, Knight also will become chairman of SoCalGas.  Knight has served in his current role at SDG&E since 2010.  Previously, Knight was executive vice president of external affairs for Sempra Energy.

Jeffrey W. Martin, 51, currently president and CEO of Sempra U.S. Gas & Power, will become CEO of SDG&E.  He has served in his current role since 2012.  Prior to joining Sempra U.S. Gas & Power, Martin was president and CEO of Sempra Generation (whose operations were consolidated into Sempra U.S. Gas & Power in 2011) and vice president of investor relations for Sempra Energy.

Anne Shen Smith, 59, currently chairman and CEO of Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas), will retire March 1, 2014, after a 36-year career with the company.  She has served as CEO of SoCalGas since 2012, prior to which she was chief operating officer of the company.

Dennis V. Arriola, 52, currently president and chief operating officer of SoCalGas, will become president and CEO of SoCalGas, succeeding Smith.  Arriola has spent most of the past 20 years serving in a broad range of leadership roles for the Sempra Energy companies.  He has been president and chief operating officer of SoCalGas since 2012.

Patricia K. Wagner, 51, currently vice president of audit services for Sempra Energy, will become president and CEO of Sempra U.S. Gas & Power, succeeding Martin. Wagner has held several key management positions in the Sempra Energy companies in finance, operations and information technology.  She has served as Sempra Energy's vice president of internal audit since 2012.

Michael R. Niggli, 63, president and chief operating officer for SDG&E, will retire Dec. 1, 2013.  He has spent most of his 42-year energy industry career working for the Sempra Energy companies.  He has served as president and chief operating officer of SDG&E since 2010.

Steven D. Davis, 57, currently senior vice president of external affairs for Sempra Energy, will become president and chief operating officer of SDG&E.  In his current position, which he has held since 2012, Davis is responsible for corporate external affairs including governmental and regulatory affairs, communications, issues management and the corporate secretary and sustainability functions.

J. Bret Lane, 54, will become chief operating officer at SoCalGas, effective March 1, 2014, succeeding Arriola.  Lane has served as senior vice president of gas operations and system integrity for SoCalGas since 2012, responsible for all aspects of gas delivery services, including region operations, engineering, transmission, storage and pipeline safety.

Additional background information on Knight, Martin, Smith, Arriola, Wagner, Niggli, Davis and Lane is available on the websites of the Sempra Energy companies, accessible through www.sempra.com.

Sempra Energy's four principal subsidiaries are SDG&E, SoCalGas, Sempra U.S. Gas & Power and Sempra International.

Sempra Energy, based in San Diego, is a Fortune 500 energy services holding company with 2012 revenues of approximately $10 billion.  The Sempra Energy companies' nearly 17,000 employees serve more than 31 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 like "believes," "expects," "anticipates," "intends," "plans," "forecasts," "estimates," "may," "will," "would," "could," "should," "potential," "target," "outlook," "project," "maintain," "depends," "pursue" 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.  Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon various assumptions involving judgments with respect to the future and other risks, including, among others: local, regional, national and international economic, competitive, political, legislative and regulatory conditions and developments; actions and the timing of actions by the California Public Utilities Commission, California State Legislature, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, U.S. Department of Energy, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Atomic Safety and Licensing Board, California Energy Commission, California Air Resources Board, and other regulatory, governmental and environmental bodies in the United States and other countries where the company does business; capital market conditions, including the availability of credit and the liquidity of investments; inflation, interest and exchange rates; the impact of benchmark interest rates, generally Moody's A-rated utility bond yields, on the California utilities' cost of capital; the timing and success of business development efforts and construction, maintenance and capital projects, including risks inherent in the ability to obtain, and the timing of the granting of, permits, licenses, certificates and other authorizations; energy markets, including the timing and extent of changes and volatility in commodity prices; the availability of electric power, natural gas and liquefied natural gas, including disruptions caused by failures in the North American transmission grid, pipeline explosions, equipment failure and the decommissioning of SONGS; weather conditions, natural disasters, catastrophic accidents, and conservation efforts; risks inherent with nuclear power facilities and radioactive materials storage, including catastrophic release of such materials, the disallowance of the recovery of the investment in, or operating costs of, the nuclear facility due to an extended outage, and increased regulatory oversight; risks posed by decisions and actions of third parties who control the operations of investments in which the company does not have a controlling interest; wars, terrorist attacks and cyber security threats; business, regulatory, environmental and legal decisions and requirements; expropriation of assets by foreign governments and title and other property disputes; the impact on reliability of SDG&E's electric transmission and distribution system due to increased power supply from renewable energy sources; the impact on competitive customer rates of the growth in distributed and local power generation and the corresponding decrease in demand for power delivered through our electric transmission and distribution system; the inability or determination not to enter into long-term supply and sales agreements or long-term firm capacity agreements; the resolution of litigation; and other uncertainties, all of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond the control of the company.  These risks and uncertainties are further discussed in the most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q that Sempra Energy has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.  These reports are available through the EDGAR system free-of-charge on the SEC's website, www.sec.gov, and on the company's website at www.sempra.com.

We caution you not to rely unduly on any forward-looking statement.  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 International, LLC, and Sempra U.S. Gas & Power, LLC, are not the same companies as the California utilities San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) or Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas) and Sempra International, LLC and Sempra U.S. Gas & Power, LLC are not regulated by the California Public Utilities Commission. Sempra International's underlying entities include Sempra Mexico and Sempra South American Utilities. Sempra U.S. Gas & Power's underlying entities include Sempra Renewables and Sempra Natural Gas.

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SOURCE Sempra Energy