After a 40-year career, Debra Reed, chairman, president and CEO of Sempra Energy, has announced she plans to retire Dec. 1, 2018, and step down as CEO and president May 1. The company’s board of directors has elected Jeffrey Martin, currently executive vice president and chief financial officer of Sempra Energy, to succeed Reed as CEO.
Joseph Householder, currently corporate group president of infrastructure businesses for Sempra Energy, has been elected to succeed Reed as the company’s president.
From May until her retirement in December, Reed will continue to serve as Sempra Energy’s executive chairman.
Reed was named Sempra Energy’s CEO in 2011 and assumed the additional role of chairman in 2012. Prior to her appointment as CEO, Reed was Sempra Energy’s executive vice president. Previously, from 2006 to 2010, she served as president and CEO of SDG&E and Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas). She also was chief operating officer of the two utilities, after initially being appointed president of SDG&E in 2000. Reed first joined the company in 1978 as an energy systems engineer at SoCalGas. In 1988, she became the first female officer at SoCalGas and then served in a series of increasingly responsible leadership positions.
Currently, Reed is one of 27 female CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, and, from 2011 to 2017, she was recognized as one of Fortune magazine’s “Most Powerful Women in Business.” Reed also was recognized by Forbes magazine as one of the nation’s most influential female CEOs.
Martin has served as Sempra Energy’s executive vice president and chief financial officer since January 2017. In his 13 years with the Sempra Energy family of companies, he has held a variety of increasingly responsible leadership positions. From 2014 through 2016, he was CEO (adding the titles of chairman and president in 2015) of San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E), one of Sempra Energy’s regulated California utilities. From 2010 through 2013, Martin was president and CEO of Sempra U.S. Gas & Power and Sempra Generation, the predecessor companies of Sempra Energy’s renewable energy and midstream businesses. Prior to that, he was vice president of investor relations for Sempra Energy. He first joined Sempra Energy in 2004 as a principal working in Sempra Energy’s mergers and acquisitions group.
Before joining Sempra Energy, Martin was CFO of NewEnergy. Also, he formerly served as corporate counsel at UniSource Energy and was an attorney at the law firm of Snell & Wilmer, focusing on corporate and commercial finance and real estate. Martin currently serves on the board of directors of the California Chamber of Commerce, where he is a member of its executive committee, and the board of trustees of the University of San Diego, where he is a member of the executive committee and chairs the athletics committee. He recently served on the boards of directors of the Edison Electric Institute, National Association of Manufacturers and San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce.
Martin holds a bachelor’s degree from the United States Military Academy at West Point, a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Texas, El Paso, and a law degree from the University of Miami.
Householder has served as corporate group president of infrastructure businesses for Sempra Energy since January 2017, overseeing the company’s operations in midstream, LNG, renewable energy and Mexico. Previously, from 2011 to 2016, Householder was Sempra Energy’s executive vice president and chief financial officer. From 2007 to 2011, he served as senior vice president, controller and chief accounting officer for Sempra Energy. He joined Sempra Energy in 2001 as vice president of corporate tax and added the title of chief tax counsel in 2005, before being promoted to senior vice president and controller in 2006.
Before joining Sempra Energy, Householder was a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers in the firm’s national tax office. Previously, he was vice president of corporate development and assistant chief financial officer of Unocal, where he was responsible for worldwide tax planning, financial reporting and forecasting, and risk-management compliance. Earlier in his career, Householder served as an attorney and a certified public accountant at several firms in the Los Angeles area.