The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, Inc. (ERCOT), the grid operator for most of Texas, has named Bob Kahn as chief executive officer to succeed outgoing CEO Sam Jones, who is retiring later this year, Board Chair Mark Armentrout announced today.

Kahn, deputy general manager for Austin Energy and a former ERCOT board member, agreed to a five-year contract, Armentrout said. Kahn is tentatively scheduled to begin his tenure at ERCOT on July 9. His selection follows a search that began last December.

"Bob Kahn brings a tremendous amount of seasoned experience and knowledge of the electric industry to ERCOT's management team," said Jones, who has been with ERCOT since 1996 and served as CEO since May 2006. "I am looking forward to turning over the reins to Bob and will work with him to assure a smooth transition." 

Prior to becoming deputy general manager in 2005, Kahn was general counsel and vice president for Legal Services for Austin Energy for eight years, responsible for providing counsel on all electric utility legal, regulatory and legislative matters for Austin Energy. He has represented clients in the electric industry for over 20 years, including in rate cases and rulemaking proceedings before the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUC). He played a key role for the public power industry in the negotiation and drafting of retail deregulation legislation for Texas.

Before joining Austin Energy, Kahn was in private practice where he provided advice to municipally-owned electric utilities, and served as lead counsel in proceedings before the PUC, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and the Texas Railroad Commission. Previous to private practice he was a staff attorney in the Texas PUC General Counsel's Office, where he represented the public's interest in electric and water utility rate and certification cases. Kahn served in the United States Air Force as a judge advocate, directing administrative hearings and investigations, and represented the Air Force before the Merit Systems Protection Board.

He earned a juris doctorate in 1978 from the University of Dayton School of Law and a bachelor of arts from Ohio University in 1975.

Kahn served on the ERCOT board from 2002 to 2006.