MN

Michael R. Niggli

Founding Chairman at ESS Inc.

Mr. Michael R. Niggli brings to the ESS board a wealth of utility industry management experience. He most recently served as President and Chief Operating Officer at San Diego Gas & Electric Co. (SDG&E) until December 2013 and currently serves on the boards of several energy-related companies. Since beginning his career at SDG&E in 1971, Mr. Niggli held many positions within the electricity and gas operations, fuels acquisition, project management and customer service operations of SDG&E. Prior to rejoining SDG&E in 2006, Mr. Niggli served in positions with Entergy Corp., Nevada Power Company, Sierra Pacific Resources and Sempra Energy. Mr. Niggli has been closely involved in business and education partnerships in San Diego, New Orleans and Las Vegas. He served as Chairman of Sierra Pacific Power Company and Nevada Power Co. since July 1999. He served as a Director of San Diego Gas & Electric Company since December 7, 2012; Member of the Board of Directors of Esval S.A. since March 2015 and ESSBIO S.A. since March 2015. Mr. Niggli served as a Director of San Diego Gas & Electric Company and Southern California Gas Co. since February 23, 2007. He served as a Director of Pacific Enterprises Inc. from February 23, 2007, to April 3, 2010. He also has served on the boards of the Central Arkansas Radiation Institute, United Way of Southern Nevada, Great Basin National Park Foundation, UNLV Foundation, Electric Power Research Institute, Edison Electric Institute and the Nevada Development Authority. Mr. Niggli has authored at least a dozen articles on issues pertinent to the electric, gas and telecommunications industries. He has provided expert testimony on electric and gas utility matters before numerous legislative committees, public service commissions and city councils at the federal, state and local levels. He founded the graduate program in power engineering at San Diego State University and lectured part-time for five years. Mr. Niggli holds a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from California State University in Long Beach and a Master’s Degree in Electrical Engineering from San Diego State University. Mr. Niggli participated in the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School.

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Timeline

  • Founding Chairman

    Current role

  • Chairman