PG&E Announces New Risk and Safety Leadership Structure

PG&E Corporation and Pacific Gas and Electric Company (together “PG&E”) today announced changes to the risk and safety leadership structure to further strengthen the utility’s enterprise-wide risk mitigation and operational safety capabilities. PG&E currently has a Vice President of Internal Audit and Chief Risk Officer whose duties include enterprise risk, internal audit, Sarbanes-Oxley compliance, market and credit risk management, third party risk management, loss control and insurance. Going forward, those responsibilities will be split between two senior leaders, a Chief Risk Officer and a Chief Audit Officer. Additionally, PG&E is elevating the current position of Chief Safety Officer to a Senior Vice President role.

“Our new leadership structure is consistent with the commitments we made to the Governor’s Office and the California Public Utilities Commission to help improve our safety culture and our operational outcomes,” said PG&E Corporation’s Interim Chief Executive Officer Bill Smith. “We are bolstering our leadership team so we can further integrate industry-leading risk management approaches across all of our business.”

Sumeet Singh, who previously led PG&E’s wildfire safety efforts through 2019, is returning to PG&E and has been appointed Senior Vice President and Chief Risk Officer (CRO), effective August 1, 2020. In this CRO capacity, he will report directly to PG&E Corporation’s Interim Chief Executive Officer Bill Smith. As Chief Risk Officer, Singh will have oversight over all risk management related to PG&E’s operations and public safety. This includes risks associated with wildfires, nuclear, dams, natural gas and natural disasters, as well as other strategic risks confronting utilities, including those relating to cyber-attacks, pandemic and other catastrophic events. Singh will also be responsible for evaluating risks associated with the Public Safety Power Shutoff program (PSPS).

As noted, Singh was previously Vice President of the utility’s Community Wildfire Safety Program. He also held numerous leadership roles in the utility’s Gas Operations after the San Bruno transmission pipeline explosion in 2010 as the company worked to overhaul and improve its gas system. Singh began his career at the utility as an engineer in 2000 and held various roles in gas distribution and transmission organizations including finance and renewable energy resource development functions.

Stephen Cairns, who currently serves as PG&E’s Vice President of Internal Audit and Chief Risk Officer, will transition to the new role of Chief Audit Officer, effective August 1, 2020. In this capacity, he will report to Jason Wells, PG&E Corporation’s Chief Financial Officer. As Chief Audit Officer, Cairns will oversee PG&E’s internal audit function, including its expanded role in supplier auditing and proactive fraud detection efforts through advanced analytics. Cairns will also oversee a new program to improve PG&E’s quality assurance functions in addition to his oversight of Sarbanes-Oxley compliance, third-party risk management, market and credit risk management, and loss control and insurance. Cairns joined PG&E in 2006 as Senior Director, Internal Auditing, and subsequently took on the leadership of Compliance and Ethics. Between June 2008 and March 2010, Cairns served as Controller.

Francisco Benavides, who currently serves as PG&E’s Vice President and Chief Safety Officer, will be elevated to Senior Vice President level, effective immediately. Benavides was appointed to the role in February 2020 and will continue reporting to PG&E Corporation’s Interim Chief Executive Officer Bill Smith.

“PG&E is squarely focused on maintaining safe operations and improving our operational performance,” continued Smith. “Sumeet, Stephen, and Francisco are talented leaders with the knowledge, experience, and commitment to help our teams drive our safety performance and culture forward. I look forward to working closely with them in their new roles as all of us at PG&E work to keep our customers and communities safe.”

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release includes forward-looking statements that are not historical facts, including statements about the beliefs, expectations, estimates, future plans and strategies of PG&E Corporation and Pacific Gas and Electric Company, including but not limited to, statements about PG&E’s focus on maintaining safe operations and improving operational performance. These statements are based on current expectations and assumptions, which management believes are reasonable, and on information currently available to management, but are necessarily subject to various risks and uncertainties. In addition to the risk that these assumptions prove to be inaccurate, factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated by the forward-looking statements include factors disclosed in PG&E Corporation and Pacific Gas and Electric Company’s joint annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019, their joint quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2020, and their subsequent reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), which are available on PG&E Corporation’s website at www.pgecorp.com and on the SEC website at www.sec.gov. PG&E Corporation and Pacific Gas and Electric Company undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether due to new information, future events or otherwise, except to the extent required by law.

About PG&E Corporation

PG&E Corporation (NYSE: PCG) is a holding company headquartered in San Francisco. It is the parent company of Pacific Gas and Electric Company (the “Utility”), an energy company that serves 16 million Californians across a 70,000-square-mile service area in Northern and Central California. Each of PG&E Corporation and the Utility is a separate entity, and is subject to separate laws, rules and regulations. For more information, visit pgecorp.com.

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