Debra L. Reed (born 1957) is an American businesswoman who served as the CEO of

Sempra Energy Sempra is a North American energy infrastructure company based in San Diego, California. The company is one of the largest utility holding companies in the United States with roughly 40 million consumers. Sempra's focus is on electric and natura ...

from 2011 until her retirement in 2018. She was the first female CEO of Sempra Energy, a Fortune 500

energy services An energy system is a system primarily designed to supply energy-services to end-users. The intent behind energy systems is to minimise energy losses to a negligible level, as well as to ensure the efficient use of energy. The IPCC Fifth As ...

holding company based in

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

Early life

Reed was born and raised in

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most po ...

Education

In 1978, Reed earned her BS in

Civil Engineering Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads, bridges, canals, dams, airports, sewage ...

(''summa cum laude'') from the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

. In 1986, she received her license for

Engineer in Training Engineer in Training, or EIT, is a professional designation from the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES) used in the United States to designate a person certified by the state as having completed two requirements: * C ...

Career

Reed served as

chairman The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...

of the

board of directors A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...

from 2012-2018 and

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

of Sempra Energy from 2011-2018. She was promoted from her previous role as

executive vice president A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on t ...

at the firm. Before moving into the management of Sempra Energy, Reed was

chief financial officer The chief financial officer (CFO) is an officer of a company or organization that is assigned the primary responsibility for managing the company's finances, including financial planning, management of financial risks, record-keeping, and financ ...

and thereafter (2006 to 2010)

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

and CEO of two Sempra subsidiaries,

San Diego Gas & Electric San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) provides natural gas and electricity to San Diego County and southern Orange County in southwestern California, United States. It is owned by Sempra, a Fortune 500 energy services holding company based in San Dieg ...

and Southern California Gas Co (

SoCalGas The Southern California Gas Company (trading as SoCalGas) is a utility company based in Los Angeles, California, and a subsidiary of Sempra Energy. It is the primary provider of natural gas to Los Angeles and Southern California. Overview Its ...

). She retired in 2018 and was replaced by

Jeffrey Martin Jeffrey Walker Martin is the chairman and chief executive officer of Sempra, an energy infrastructure company based in San Diego, California. Sempra develops and owns energy transmission and distribution infrastructure with a focus on leading mark ...

. In her role at Sempra, Reed presided over $37bn in assets, operated revenues of $10+bn and 17,000 employees. Reed started at SoCalGas in 1978. Her total compensation for 2013 $9,792,288 and her stock ownership for 2014, 57,762.

Business achievements

In 1988, Reed became SoCalGas’s first female officer. She was one of few female 500 CEOs from the

Fortune 500 The ''Fortune'' 500 is an annual list compiled and published by ''Fortune'' magazine that ranks 500 of the largest United States corporations by total revenue for their respective fiscal years. The list includes publicly held companies, along ...

companies.

Business awards

In 2014, Reed was appointed by the

U.S. Secretary of Energy The United States secretary of energy is the head of the United States Department of Energy, a member of the Cabinet of the United States, and fifteenth in the presidential line of succession. The position was created on October 1, 1977, when Pr ...

to the National Petroleum Council. ''

Fortune Fortune may refer to: General * Fortuna or Fortune, the Roman goddess of luck * Luck * Wealth * Fortune, a prediction made in fortune-telling * Fortune, in a fortune cookie Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''The Fortune'' (1931 film) ...

'' Magazine has named her to its list of "Most Powerful Women in Business" six consecutive times, ranking her #23 in 2015 and #22 in 2016.

Board memberships

Reed is a member of the board of directors of Halliburton Co., the Board of Councilors of the University of Southern California Viterbi School of Engineering, Chairman’s Competitiveness Council, The Trusteeship and

The Business Council The Business Council is an organization of business leaders headquartered in Washington, D.C.Genentech Genentech, Inc., is an American biotechnology corporation headquartered in South San Francisco, California. It became an independent subsidiary of Roche in 2009. Genentech Research and Early Development operates as an independent center within R ...

and

Avery Dennison Corp Avery Dennison Corporation is a multinational manufacturer and distributor of pressure-sensitive adhesive materials (such as self-adhesive labels), apparel branding labels and tags, RFID inlays, and specialty medical products. The company is a ...

. On April 8, 2015,

Caterpillar Inc. Caterpillar Inc. (stock symbol CAT) is an American ''Fortune'' 500 corporation and the world's largest construction-equipment manufacturer. In 2018, Caterpillar was ranked number 65 on the ''Fortune'' 500 list and number 238 on the Global ''Fo ...

announced that Reed had been nominated to join the board of directors, with election to be held at the June 2015 annual stockholders meeting.

Personal life

Reed lives with her husband in

. They have one daughter.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reed, Debra American women chief executives American chief executives of Fortune 500 companies American chief financial officers Sempra Energy 1957 births Living people USC Viterbi School of Engineering alumni Women chief financial officers 21st-century American women