Utility Infielder. Applied Pragmatician. Data Scientist.
Technocrat Leaves the Show to Become a Minor League Player
In my late 40s, I transitioned from the high-octane world of San Francisco law firms to serve as an Administrative Law Judge for the California Public Utilities Commission. I traded 320-billable-hour Februaries for a role as a "utility infielder" in the public sector—tackling complex cases that required both speed and technical precision.
When the 1996 Telecommunications Act threw the industry into a whirlwind, I brokered the interconnection agreements between giants like AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint—an award that was eventually upheld by the Supreme Court. Later, I leveraged my securitization background to save California’s electrical utilities from bankruptcy, pushing through "stranded cost recovery bonds" within a strict 120-day statutory window—a feat previously unheard of in the commission's culture.
The Takeaway: Leadership often requires pushing beyond institutional inertia to meet the demands of the day. I learned that while efficiency can breed resentment in a slow-moving system, the results are what preserve the system itself.