Paul R. Sutherland

Paul R. Sutherland is a Senior Advisor to Saber Partners, LLC.

With over twenty-two years of corporate experience at Florida Power & Light (FPL), FPL Group and FPL Group Capital, Mr. Sutherland’s engineering background and quantitative skills bring depth to Saber’s analytical toolbox.

Since joining Saber Partners, Mr. Sutherland has provided quality control for the financial modeling of the three major investor owned utilities in California as part of the Governor’s financial team during the energy crisis of 2001. He authored the Governor’s position paper regarding Pacific Gas & Electric’s Plan of Reorganization to emerge from their Chapter 11 bankruptcy. In another Saber project, he developed the models that helped an electric cooperative convert to an investor owned utility. He has also audited utility expenses in two separate securitization transactions in Texas on behalf of the Public Utility Commission of Texas to ensure that the structuring and pricing of the $1.5 billion of asset backed “transition bonds” bonds resulted in the lowest transition bond charges consistent with market conditions. He has provided expert testimony on securitization bond financing for the Florida Public Service Commission and the District of Columbia Public Service Commission. In 2018, he provided expert testimony on behalf of the California Community Choice Association for the California Public Utility Commission on structuring and benefits of utility securitization under current market conditions.

Prior to joining Saber Partners, Mr. Sutherland held positions including Assistant Treasurer of Florida Power & Light and FPL Group Capital and, most recently, Director of Finance, Accounting & Systems for the Energy Marketing & Trading Division of FPL. In his capacity as Assistant Treasurer, he completed over $2 billion in refinancings for the utility. He wrote and gave testimony as an expert witness before the Florida Public Service Commission and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on matters ranging from cost of capital to financial integrity and capital structure. He also managed the first ever electric utility issuance of variable rate tax exempt demand notes.

Mr. Sutherland accounting experience includes acting as Assistant Controller for FPL, with responsibility for SEC and management reporting as well as accounting research to assure compliance with GAAP. Prior to working for FPL, he was Controller, Industrial Products Division of the Singer Company in Spain.

Mr. Sutherland graduated from Cornell University with a BSEE degree and has an MBA from the University of Chicago. He served in the Peace Corps in Brazil and is fluent in Portuguese. He has also served as an adjunct professor of mathematics at Palm Beach Atlantic College in Florida. Mr. Sutherland served for 5 years (including as Vice Chairman) on the Board of Finance for the town of Ridgefield, CT. He previously served for 4 years on the Board of Education for the town.