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Governor Lamont Nominates Four Commissioners to PURA [[link removed]]

Posted on October 20, 2025

(HARTFORD, CT) – Governor Ned Lamont today announced that he is nominating four individuals to serve as commissioners of the Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA), including Janice Beecher of New Britain, Holly Cheeseman of Niantic, Everett Smith of Greenwich, and Thomas Wiehl of Madison. Additionally, the governor announced that he is selecting Wiehl to serve as the authority’s chairperson.

Each of the nominees will initially begin serving in these roles in an interim capacity, and then their nominations will be forwarded to the Connecticut General Assembly for its consideration upon the start of the 2026 regular legislative session in February. Connecticut state law permits a maximum of five commissioners to serve on PURA. Each commissioner serves a four-year term, and the governor is required to select one of them to serve as chairperson.

There are currently two active PURA commissioners, including David Arconti, Jr., who is in the first year of his first term and who also serves as the authority’s vice chairperson, and Michael Caron, whose term has expired and who has chosen to retire later this year. Caron has been a commissioner since 2012.

“These four nominees have an extensive amount of expertise and a diverse set of experience in energy and utilities,” Governor Lamont said. “In nominating new commissioners and completing a full board, I implore everyone to remember that it’s the public whose interests should always come first and must be protected. The entire purpose of PURA is centered on the understanding that utility companies all provide an essential public service that everybody depends on, and we must have an independent authority providing careful, rigorous oversight to ensure that these services are safe and reliable and that the consumers paying for them are doing so at just and reasonable rates. I thank these nominees for agreeing to join the authority and assuming this important responsibility. I also thank Michael Caron for his many years with PURA and dedicated service on behalf of the people of Connecticut.”

“Together, this leadership team reflects a balance of technical expertise and policy insight that will strengthen PURA’s mission to serve the public interest,” Vice Chairperson Arconti said. “I am excited to work with my colleagues to modernize the grid, advance innovation, and uphold fairness for ratepayers across Connecticut.”

Thomas Wiehl, commissioner and chairperson

Wiehl is currently the legal and regulatory director for the Connecticut Office of Consumer Counsel, the independent state agency responsible for advocating on behalf of consumers for quality, reliable utility services at the lowest possible rates. Immediately prior to that, he was the agency’s director of utility oversight and regulatory reform from 2023 to 2024, and a staff attorney from 2020 to 2023. In his current position, he is responsible for overseeing all legal and technical staff and managing the agency’s engagement in regulatory proceedings and appellate activity.

Prior to joining the Office of Consumer Counsel, Wiehl worked as vice president of administration and general counsel for Consumers Petroleum of Connecticut, a company based in Milford that distributed gasoline, diesel, and other petroleum products throughout Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey. He also was previously a public defender in Massachusetts, providing representation for indigent parents and children.

Wiehl earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Bennington College in Bennington, Vermont; a Master of Fine Arts degree from California College of the Arts in San Francisco, California, and a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Connecticut School of Law. He has been admitted to the bars of Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New Jersey.

“I am honored to be nominated as chair of the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority at such a critical moment for our state,” Wiehl said. “Relying on my experiences as a public defender, business executive and energy regulatory attorney, I am prepared to bring a fresh perspective to the authority, which is tasked with issuing tough and balanced decisions regarding the public services Connecticut residents rely on every day. I am eager to collaborate with my colleagues on the bench and PURA’s dedicated staff to improve outcomes and advance our state’s affordability and grid reliability goals. I am grateful to Governor Lamont for this opportunity to continue my public service, and to my family for their unwavering support in this new chapter.”

Janice Beecher, commissioner

Beecher is a professor emeritus (Political Science) and director emeritus (Institute of Public Utilities) at Michigan State University, where she has worked since 2002. She has also served as the editor-in-chief of the journal Utilities Policy (Elsevier) since 2014. She is a recognized expert with four decades of experience in applied research, continuing education, and practice in the economic regulation of public utilities. She previously held staff positions at the Illinois Commerce Commission (the state’s utility regulator), The Ohio State University, and Indiana University, and has experience in public policy consulting.

She earned a Ph.D. in political science from Northwestern University. Her areas of interest include regulatory principles and practices; incentives and accountability for utility performance; infrastructure funding, financing, and governance; rate design and utility affordability; and the structure, economics, and regulation of the water sector.

“I am honored and humbled by Governor Lamont’s nomination and the chance to serve PURA’s mission,” Beecher said. “I look forward to working collaboratively with Chairman Wiehl and the panel and constructively with the agency staff and its diverse stakeholders. Together, we can meet this moment and advance fair and effective economic regulation in the public interest to ensure high-performance in the provision of critical infrastructure and access to essential services.”

Holly Cheeseman, commissioner

From 2015 to 2023, Cheeseman served as executive director of the Niantic Children’s Museum (formerly the Children’s Museum of Southeastern Connecticut), where she was responsible for overseeing all financial, organizational, and operational management and oversight for the museum. Prior to that, she served from 1990 to 2012 as executive director of LVA Corporate Communications.

Cheeseman has held several public offices, including as state representative for the 37th Assembly District of East Lyme, Montville, and Salem from 2016 to 2024, during which she served on the Energy and Technology Committee. She has also served on the East Lyme Board of Selectmen, the East Lyme Board of Assessment Appeals, and on the board of seCTer, a nonprofit economic development organization for the southeastern Connecticut region.

She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts.

“Thank you, Governor Lamont, for my appointment to the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority,” Cheeseman said. “I welcome the opportunity to share with my former legislative colleagues how best to move forward on utility regulatory policy that best serves all of Connecticut. The challenges that lie ahead are daunting but afford us a great opportunity to make the right decisions at a time when consumers and providers are calling for relief. I look forward, not back. Working with my fellow commissioners, I believe we can carry out PURA’s mission, advancing our state’s economic, energy and environmental goals, and promoting policies that serve Connecticut ratepayers and employers.”

Everett Smith, commissioner

Smith is a specialist investor in energy and sustainable infrastructure with more than 45 years of experience investing across the capital structure – including debt, project finance, both structured and private equity, and venture capital – and across geographies – having worked in the Americas, Europe, and Asia. Most recently, he founded and was CEO of GoldenSet Capital Partners, which since 2012 has constructed and owned more than 54 distributed solar and wind projects and completed investments in residential solar, energy storage, and renewable natural gas.

Previously, Smith spent 15 years at GE Capital based in Connecticut and Singapore as managing director and executive vice president in the GE Capital Structured Finance Group, the unit responsible for GE’s energy and infrastructure investment activities. During this time, Smith focused on U.S. private power projects and later headed SFG International investing in the energy, infrastructure, transportation, and telecommunications sectors throughout Asia, Europe, and Latin America. When starting at GE, Smith had responsibility for providing capital for corporate and project finance transactions for U.S. utility and utility affiliated energy companies.

Prior to joining GE Capital, Mr. Smith spent 11 years at Chemical Bank in New York and Houston, where he became a vice president in the Energy and Minerals Group, focused on utility corporate and project finance, as well as financings for the independent oil and gas industry.

He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York, and a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Houston in Houston, Texas.

“As I have learned during my 45 years of investing in energy and infrastructure, the landscape is continuously changing, and we need to embrace new innovative ideas and approaches to capitalize on this change,” Smith said. “I am delighted to join PURA as a commissioner and hope that together with my fellow commissioners we can strengthen the energy sector in Connecticut by making it more reliable, resilient, clean, and affordable.”

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