Chief Legal Officer
As the Chief Legal Officer, Irene is responsible for several key areas of the utility, including legal and regulatory compliance, enterprise risk management, and corporate governance. She also serves as a key strategic partner to the Board of Directors, the General Manager/CEO, and the executive management team on implementing policies that enhance the quality of products and services the District provides to its customer-owners.
Irene has extensive experience representing electric utilities. Prior to joining the District, Irene was the Deputy Executive Director and General Counsel of the Public Power Council (PPC), the region’s largest association of consumer-owned electric utilities in the Pacific Northwest. She advised the PPC board and member utilities on critical issues pertaining to the procurement and delivery of affordable, reliable, and clean electric power to their communities. Her advocacy and legal work contributed to hundreds of millions of dollars in savings for Northwest consumer-owned utilities that purchase wholesale electricity and transmission service from the Bonneville Power Administration.
Prior to joining PPC, Irene was in private practice with large firms in Portland representing clients in commercial litigation. Irene holds a Bachelor of Arts in political science, with minors in analytical finance and business, from Gonzaga University, and a Juris Doctor from Lewis & Clark Law School. She is a member of the Oregon State Bar and the Washington State Bar.