Pedro Pizarro

Title: 
President
Organization: 
Southern California Edison
Biography: 

Pedro Pizarro is president of Southern California Edison (SCE), 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.  He is a member of SCE’s board of directors.

Pizarro was president of Edison Mission Energy (EME) and chair of its board of directors from 2011 until its sale of substantially all of its assets to NRG Energy on April 1, 2014.  EME was a subsidiary of Edison International (EIX) at the time.  EME was an independent power producer that owned, leased, operated, and sold energy and capacity from electric power generation facilities, and engaged in hedging and energy-trading activities in competitive power markets. 

Previously, Pizarro progressed through several roles at EIX and SCE.  He joined EIX in 1999 as director of Strategic Planning, and was elected vice president of Technology Business Development in 2000.  He moved to SCE in 2001 as vice president of Strategy and Business Development and general manager of Edison Carrier Solutions (ECS), a division of SCE that provides wholesale broadband services to telecommunications carriers.  Pizarro was elected vice president of Power Procurement in 2004, senior vice president of Power Procurement in 2005, and executive vice president of Power Operations in 2008.  In that role, he oversaw SCE’s transmission and distribution system, the procurement unit for conventional and renewable power contracts, SCE’s gas-fired and hydroelectric generation facilities, and ECS.

Prior to his work at EIX and SCE, Pizarro was a senior engagement manager with McKinsey & Company in Los Angeles providing management consulting services to energy, technology, engineering services, and banking clients.  There, he developed corporate strategy, handled mergers and acquisitions, and oversaw operational and organizational engagements.

Pizarro earned a Ph.D. in chemistry from Caltech and held National Science Foundation and Department of Defense graduate fellowships.  He earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Harvard University.

Pizarro serves on the boards of Argonne National Laboratory, the Southern California Leadership Council, and Western Energy Institute.  He also has served on the boards of Caltech, the Electric Power Supply Association, the California Power Exchange, the Colburn School, and House Research Institute. 

Category: 
Speaker
Conference: