Gov. David Ige has chosen Jay Griffin to chair the Public Utilities Commission. Griffin takes over leadership of the commission for Randy Iwase who retired last month to spend more time with family.

Griffin has served on the three-member commission since May 2017. He previously served as chief of policy and research at the PUC. Prior to that, he was assistant researcher and assistant specialist with the Hawai‘i Natural Energy Institute.

He has a Ph.D. in policy analysis from Pardee RAND Graduate School in Santa Monica and joint master’s degrees in public policy and environmental management from Duke University. He also holds a master’s degree in economics from the University of California at Santa Barbara. He earned a bachelor’s degree in political economy from Williams College.

“Serving on this commission has been the opportunity of a lifetime. I am proud of the progress that we have made and am deeply committed to building on this momentum,” Griffin said in a press release.

Ige still needs to appoint another commissioner to replace the seat left vacant by Iwase’s departure. The governor is actively reviewing applications for the position, according to a spokeswoman for the governor’s office.