In the past year, eight distinguished leaders with deep collective expertise in bioscience, communications, energy, engineering, government, physical sciences and technology have joined the UChicago Argonne, LLC Board of Governors.
The Argonne board of governors consists of more than two dozen academic, public policy and industry leaders who bring multifaceted perspectives and experience to the role of governing Argonne National Laboratory. Board members serve as ambassadors and advisors in support of Argonne’s ambitious research agenda, and play a leading role in the advancement of Argonne’s scientific objectives and major initiatives.
“The board of governors provides essential guidance for the University of Chicago’s management of Argonne for the U.S. Department of Energy, helping to advance Argonne’s agenda of scientific and technological innovation,” said University of Chicago President Robert J. Zimmer. “We are delighted to welcome these distinguished and widely respected individuals, who will add valuable perspectives to the board’s work.”
The newest members of the board are:
- Doyle N. Beneby, president and chief executive officer, CPS Energy
- AnnaMaria DeSalva, vice president, corporate communications, DuPont
- Derek Douglas, vice president for civic engagement, University of Chicago
- Polly Gault, executive vice president, government affairs (retired), Edison International
- Edward “Rocky” Kolb, dean, Division of the Physical Sciences, University of Chicago
- Pedro Pizarro, president, Southern California Edison
- Thomas Rosenbaum, president, California Institute of Technology
- Steve G. Stevanovich (ex officio), founder, president and chief executive officer, SGS Global Holdings
Prospective board members are recommended by a nominating committee of the board and appointed by the University of Chicago president, who also serves as chairman of the board of directors of UChicago Argonne LLC, which manages Argonne for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science.
“Our relationship with the board of governors is one of the lab’s most important collaborations,” said Argonne Director Peter B. Littlewood. “We value our board members for their thoughtful guidance, advice and direction on a spectrum of issues, from science and technology to budgets and facilities. We also appreciate their insight in helping us seize new opportunities to make a difference through discovery and innovation.”
More on the board’s new members:
Beneby is president and chief executive officer for CPS Energy, the largest municipal electric and gas utility in the nation. Under his leadership, CPS Energy transformed its generation fleet to one of the most diversified in the country, with an emphasis on low-carbon and renewable sources. Prior to leading CPS Energy, Beneby served most recently as president of Exelon Power. He has also held senior executive positions at Florida Power & Light Co., Consumers Energy Co., PECO Energy and ComEd. He has been an independent director of Capital Power Corp. since 2012.
As DuPont’s global chief communications officer, DeSalva leads, develops and executes the company’s strategic communications and brand management around the world. Prior to DuPont, she was vice president, corporate affairs—biopharma innovation & outcomes at global biopharmaceutical leader Pfizer. For seven years before that she held senior management positions at WPP companies, including head of the global healthcare practice and a member of the global management board at Hill & Knowlton, one of the world’s largest public relations firms. DeSalva has served as an advisor to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and was appointed to the agency’s advisory panel on risk communications in 2008.
As vice president for civic engagement, Derek Douglas leads the University of Chicago’s local, national and international urban development and civic engagement efforts and oversees the University’s city, state and federal government relations. He spearheads the University’s efforts to work in partnership with the surrounding south side neighborhoods, city, region, nation and globe to advance urban economic development, enhance the quality of life for residents, and enrich the work of University faculty and students through research, education and direct engagement. He also is senior fellow and lecturer at the University’s Harris School of Public Policy. Previously, Douglas served on the White House Domestic Policy Council as special assistant to President Barack Obama, where he led the DPC’s work on urban and metropolitan policy issues.
Gault served as executive vice president of public affairs of Edison International and Southern California Edison from 2007 until 2013. She joined Southern California Edison in 1997. Prior to that, Gault was principal director and executive vice president of the Wexler Group, a strategic business planning and government relations consulting firm. Gault has spent almost 20 years in a wide range of public policy and management positions in both the legislative and executive branches of the federal government. Her posts included serving President Ronald Reagan as executive director of the Presidential Commission on Executive, Legislative and Judicial Salaries and as chief of staff at the Department of Energy working for the Secretary, Admiral Watkins.
In addition to leading UChicago’s Division of the Physical Sciences, Kolb, the Arthur Holly Compton Distinguished Service Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics, is a member of the Enrico Fermi Institute and the Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics at UChicago. He currently serves on the boards of the Giant Magellan Telescope and the Adler Planetarium. Kolb studies the application of elementary-particle physics to the very early Universe, including cosmic inflation models, gravitational production of particles, particle dark matter, ultra-high energy cosmic rays, and high-energy neutrino astronomy. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a fellow of the American Physical Society.
Pizarro is president and a director of Southern California Edison, one of the nation’s largest investor-owned electric utilities, delivering power to more than 14 million people in a 50,000-square-mile service area spanning central, coastal and southern California. Pizarro served as president and a director of Edison Mission Energy, a competitive electric power producer that was a subsidiary of Edison International, from 2011 until the sale of substantially all of its assets to NRG Energy on April 1, 2014. Prior to this, Pizarro held a variety of executive roles at Edison International and SCE, and was a senior engagement manager with McKinsey & Company.
On July 1, 2014, Rosenbaum took office as Caltech’s ninth president. Rosenbaum was formerly the John T. Wilson Distinguished Service Professor of Physics at UChicago, where he served as the University’s provost for seven years. As provost, he had responsibility for a broad range of institutes and intellectual endeavors across the sciences, arts and professional schools. He has been deeply engaged with Argonne National Laboratory as the University’s vice president for research and for Argonne National Laboratory from 2002 to 2006 and as a member of its board of governors. Rosenbaum is an expert on the quantum mechanical nature of materials—the physics of electronic, magnetic and optical materials at the atomic level—that are best observed at temperatures near absolute zero.
Steve G. Stevanovich is the founder, president and chief executive officer of SGS Global Holdings, which holds investments in technology companies in various industries including clean energy. Prior to founding his own firm in 1997, Stevanovich was the executive vice president of Everest Capital Limited, a $1.4 billion fund management firm. Stevanovich serves on the board of directors for a number of companies. He is also a member of UChicago’s Board of Trustees. He also serves on the board of advisors to the University’s Master of Science Program in Financial Mathematics. In 2007 he endowed the Stevanovich Center for Financial Mathematics at UChicago, and in 2015 he endowed the Stevanovich Institute on the Formation of Knowledge, also at the University.
—Prof. Jacqueline Stewart
