FEBRUARY 6, 2025 — The CPS Energy Board of Trustees has appointed Francine Romero, chair of the UTSA Department of Public Administration and professor in the UTSA College for Health, Community and Policy, as the board chair of CPS Energy, the nation’s largest municipal electric and gas utility.
Romero, a public policy expert with more than two decades of experience in local public service, previously served as the vice chair. She currently chairs the CPS Energy Operations Oversight Committee and is a member of the Technology and Resilience Committee and the Risk Management Committee. This is Romero’s third year on the CPS Energy Board of Trustees.
“I thank my fellow Trustees for entrusting me with the role of board chair,” Romero said in a CPS Energy news release. “I remain dedicated to advancing CPS Energy’s mission and ensuring we continue to serve the San Antonio community with high standards of excellence.”
Romero’s broad expertise spans the planning, environmental and public policy challenges impacting the Alamo City. From 2016 to 2018, she was the City of San Antonio’s District 8 Zoning Commissioner. She has also served as vice chair of the San Antonio Parks and Recreation advisory board and as vice president of the Phil Hardberger Park Conservancy.
She continues to chair the San Antonio Conservation Advisory Board and was instrumental in working with Mayor Ron Nirenberg in 2020 to identify an alternative funding mechanism for the Edwards Aquifer Protection Program.
Romero has been recognized with numerous awards and honors for the impact of her public service. In 2019, she was inducted into the San Antonio Women’s Hall of Fame and two years earlier was a nominee for the San Antonio Clean Technology Forum’s Water of Life Award. In 2013 and 2016, respectively, she won the UTSA President’s Distinguished Achievement Award for Excellence in Community Service and was an honoree at the Green Spaces Alliance’s Land We Love Gala. She is also a recipient of the Patriotic Employer Award from the Office of the U.S. Secretary of Defense.
Dr. Willis Mackey has been appointed to serve in Romero’s previous post as vice chair of CPS Energy. Throughout their tenure on the board, Romero and Mackey have played a pivotal role in supporting key initiatives that have enhanced CPS Energy’s reliability and have helped adapt strategies to meet the evolving needs of the growing San Antonio community, including modernizing CPS Energy’s software systems.
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