William A. Von Hoene, Jr., 61, oversees corporate development, corporate strategy, legal, regulatory, government affairs, investments and communications for Exelon, the nation’s number one competitive energy provider. He previously served as executive vice president, Finance and Legal, of Exelon. Von Hoene joined Exelon in February, 2002 and has held numerous positions before assuming his current responsibilities in February 2012. He serves on Exelon’s Executive Committee and is a member of the Boards of Directors of Nuclear Electric Insurance Limited, the Alliance to Save Energy, and the United Way of Metropolitan Chicago. He also serves on the Board of Advisors of Flying Food Group and is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Constellation Energy Nuclear Group, a joint venture between Exelon and EDF which owns five nuclear units.

Prior to joining Exelon, Von Hoene was a senior partner at Jenner & Block, specializing in complex civil and white-collar criminal litigation. While at Jenner & Block, he served on the management committee and, at various times, as hiring partner and chairperson of the firm’s pro bono and diversity committees.

Von Hoene has served on numerous civic and public interest boards of directors. He is past president of the Chicago Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Inc., and past general counsel to the Leadership Council for Metropolitan Open Communities. He currently serves on the boards of directors of the Legal Assistance Foundation of Chicago, Northwestern Memorial Hospital (for which he serves as the Chairman of the Professional Standards Committee), the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Civic Consulting Alliance and the Diversity Scholarship Foundation. He previously has served on the boards of directors of the Chicago Legal Clinic, the Chicago Bar Foundation and the Joffrey Ballet. He also serves on the Visiting Committee of the University Of Chicago Law School, and is a member of the Economic Club of Chicago and the Executives’ Club of Chicago. In 2010, Bill was appointed to the Department of Commerce National Advisory Council on Minority Business Enterprise. The council served to provide advice and recommendations to the Secretary of Commerce and the President on a broad range of policy issues affecting the minority business community. In 2011, Bill was appointed to Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s Supplier Diversity Task Force, a procurement initiative designed to help strengthen small and minority and women-owned businesses in Chicago.

While Von Hoene served as Exelon’s general counsel, the Exelon Legal department received the 2007 Association of Corporate Counsel Pro Bono Award, which recognizes the most outstanding corporate pro bono program in the country and in 2009 was named one of three finalists for Corporate Counsel magazine’s best legal department.

Von Hoene received the 2008 Vanguard Award from the Chicago Bar Association, recognizing contributions in making the legal profession more accessible and reflective of the community at large. In 2009, he received the Spirit of Excellence award from the American Bar Association Commission on Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Profession, and was named by the National Law Journal as one of the twenty most influential general counsels in the country. Von Hoene also received the 2009 Advocate for Diversity Award for his significant contributions to the legal community and for embracing diversity, and is the 2010 recipient of the Chicago Appleseed Corporate Leader Award. In September 2010, Von Hoene received the Arthur Goldberg Social Justice Award, presented by the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs for his career-long dedication to social justice, and in 2011, he received the Donald Hubert Public Service Award from the Chicago Inn of Court. Von Hoene also received the 2013 Corporate Social Responsibility award from the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

Von Hoene is a 1980 graduate of the University of Chicago Law School, where he served on the Law Review and was elected to the Order of the Coif, and a 1976 graduate of Yale University.

Melanie A. Kenderdine joined the Department of Energy as Director of the Office of Energy Policy and Systems Analysis and Energy Counselor to the Secretary in May 2013. Prior to serving in her current role at DOE, Ms. Kenderdine worked as the Executive Director and Associate Director of the MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI). During her six year tenure at MITEI, she managed a large staff, was a member of the research team for MIT’s Future of Natural Gas Study, was the rapporteur and editor for the MITEI Symposium Series, and helped to raise over $500 million from industry and private donors for energy research and education.

Before joining MITEI, Ms. Kenderdine served as the Vice President of Washington Operations for the Gas Technology Institute (GTI) from 2001 to 2007. At GTI, she was involved in major initiatives to increase domestic natural gas supply through research and development, enhanced energy efficiency through the use of full fuel cycle analysis, and advanced the security of critical energy infrastructures. From 1993 to 2001, Ms. Kenderdine served as a political appointee in President Bill Clinton’s administration; she served in several key posts at DOE, including Senior Policy Advisor to the Secretary, Director of the Office of Policy, and Deputy Assistant Secretary for Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs. Prior to joining DOE during the Clinton Administration, Ms. Kenderdine was Chief of Staff and Legislative Director for New Mexico Congressman Bill Richardson, who later was named U.S. Secretary of Energy.

Ms. Kenderdine has served on a Council on Foreign Relations Task Force to develop a national energy strategy, on the Consumers Energy Council of America Working Group on Distributed Energy, has published articles in the World Energy Forum magazine, coauthored a chapter in “Energy Security in the 21st Century: A New Foreign Policy Strategy,” and is a frequent lecturer on energy issues. In July 2014, Ms. Kenderdine was named one of the top five women in Washington shaping energy policy by the National Journal.

The Honorable Stephen G. Burns was sworn in as a Commissioner of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Nov. 5, 2014, to a term ending June 30, 2019. President Obama designated Mr. Burns as Chairman of the NRC effective Jan. 1, 2015.

Mr. Burns has a distinguished career as an attorney both within the NRC and internationally. Before returning to the NRC, he was the Head of Legal Affairs of the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development in Paris. In that position, which he held since April 2012, Mr. Burns provided legal advice and support to NEA management, carried out the legal education and publications program of the NEA, and provided advice and secretariat services to the Nuclear Law Committee and to the Contracting Parties to the Paris Convention on Third Party Liability in the Field of Nuclear Energy.

Mr. Burns joined the NRC as an attorney in 1978. Prior to assuming his post at the NEA, Mr. Burns served as General Counsel of the NRC from May 2009 until April 2012 after having served as the NRC’s Deputy General Counsel from 1998. He also served as Executive Assistant to former NRC Chairman Kenneth M. Carr.

Mr. Burns received a bachelor’s degree, magna cum laude, in 1975 from Colgate University in Hamilton, New York. He received his law degree with honors in 1978 from the George Washington University in Washington, D.C., where he was an editor on the George Washington Law Review. Mr. Burns received the NRC’s Distinguished Service Award in 2001 and the Presidential Meritorious Executive Rank Award in 1998 and 2008.

 December 2014

Commissioner Colette D. Honorable Commissioner Colette D. Honorable was nominated to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission by President Barack Obama in August 2014, and unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate in December 2014 for a term that expires in June 2017. An attorney, Commissioner Honorable came to FERC from the Arkansas Public Service Commission, where she served since October 2007, and led as Chairman from January 2011-January 2015.

As Chairman of the PSC, Honorable oversaw an agency with jurisdiction over 450 utilities and approximate annual revenues of $5 billion. She was charged with ensuring safe, reliable and affordable retail electric service. During her tenure, Arkansas led the South and Southeast in comprehensive energy efficiency programs, and electric rates were consistently among the lowest in the nation.

Honorable is past president of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, where she focused on pipeline safety, reliability, resilience, fuel diversity, and workforce development during her one-year term. She has testified before Congress on multiple occasions on a range of energy issues.

Prior to joining the Arkansas PSC, Honorable served as chief of staff to then Arkansas Attorney General Mike Beebe and as a member of the governor’s cabinet as Executive Director of the Arkansas Workforce Investment Board. Her previous employment includes service as a consumer protection and civil litigation attorney, and as a senior assistant attorney general in Medicaid fraud before serving as an adjunct professor at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock School of Law.

Honorable is an Ambassador for the Clean Energy Education and Empowerment Initiative, an effort co-led by the U.S. Department of Energy and the MIT Energy Initiative, formed under the auspices of the International Clean Energy Ministerial.

A native of Arkansas, Honorable is a graduate of the University of Memphis and received a Juris Doctor from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock School of Law.