Biography
Chairman Norman C. Bay was nominated by President Barack Obama to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in January 2014 and was confirmed by the U.S. Senate for a term that expires June 30, 2018. He served as a Commissioner at FERC from August 4, 2014 through April 14, 2015.
From July 2009 to July 2014, Chairman Bay was the Director of the Office of Enforcement (OE). Under his leadership, OE enhanced its ability to conduct market oversight and surveillance and to investigate wrongdoing. OE created a Division of Analytics and Surveillance that designs and employs innovative algorithms to screen the markets on a daily basis to detect potentially improper conduct. OE successfully investigated allegations of manipulation of the gas and electric markets, and the Commission approved settlements that returned almost $1 billion to ratepayers and taxpayers. OE also led several inquiries into major reliability events, including the Arizona-Southern California outages of September 8, 2011, and issued reports that contained dozens of findings and recommendations. This work protected consumers, enhanced the integrity of the markets, and improved grid reliability. In December 2013, a leading energy publication listed Chairman Bay as one of the 10 most influential people in energy.
Before coming to FERC, Chairman Bay was a Professor of Law at the University of New Mexico School of Law, where he taught Criminal Law, Evidence, and Constitutional Law. He was named Dickason Professor of Law, and UNM students voted him “Best Law Professor.” Chairman Bay served in the Department of Justice from 1989 to 2001. From 1989 to 2000, he was an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the District of Columbia and New Mexico. From 2000 to 2001, he was the U.S. Attorney in the District of New Mexico, having been nominated by President Clinton and confirmed by unanimous consent of the Senate. Prior to his Justice Department service, Chairman Bay was an Attorney-Adviser in the Office of Legal Adviser at the State Department. He also clerked for the Hon. Otto R. Skopil of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Portland, Oregon. From 2013 to 2014, Chairman Bay was a member of the NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions.
Chairman Bay is from New Mexico. He is a graduate of Dartmouth College and Harvard Law School. He and his wife, Yuri, live in Washington, D.C.
