SoCalGas Top Exec to Chair CalChamber Board in 2025
Maryam S. Brown, incoming CEO and president of the Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas), has been elected as the 2025 chair of the California Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors.
“I’m deeply honored to take on this role and work alongside the Board and staff to champion California’s businesses and employers,” said Brown. “As the leader of one of the country’s largest energy providers, every day I see the dedication that our over 8,000 employees bring to delivering safe, reliable, and affordable energy to over 21 million Californians. This perspective, combined with a shared vision for a strong California economy amidst evolving state policies, will guide my tenure as Chair, and I’m excited to make meaningful progress together.”
Serving with Brown as 2025 officers of the CalChamber Board are:
• First Vice Chair John A. Stowell, senior vice president, The Walt Disney Company;
• Second Vice Chair Frank Washington, CEO, Crossings TV; and
• Third Vice Chair Fiona Hutton, founder and CEO, Fiona Hutton & Associates.
Maryam S. Brown
As CEO and president, Maryam Brown will oversee all operations across SoCalGas’ 24,000-square mile territory, guiding the company in its delivery of reliable, affordable, and safe energy.
Before taking on the combined CEO and president role, Brown served as SoCalGas’ president for five years, executing the company’s strategic vision and advancing clean renewable hydrogen with initiatives like the Angeles Link dedicated hydrogen pipeline project.
Brown has 25 years of experience in the energy industry in engineering, legal, policy, and regulatory roles. She joined SoCalGas in 2019 from SoCalGas’ corporate parent Sempra, a diversified energy services company based in San Diego, where she was vice president, federal government affairs.
Prior to Sempra, Brown amassed a decade of legislative and policy expertise working on Capitol Hill in senior staff roles in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. She served as senior energy and environment counsel for two Speakers of the U.S. House of Representatives and as chief energy counsel to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
In addition to serving as 2025 chair of the California Chamber of Commerce, Brown serves on the U.S. Department of Energy National Petroleum Council, on the board of Stifel Financial Corp. and is a trustee of the American Gas Foundation.
Brown started her career as an engineer in the petroleum refining sector before becoming a corporate securities associate attorney at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP. She earned her bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and her law degree (Order of the Coif) from Louisiana State University.
Executive Committee
The CalChamber Board also approved three directors as at-large members of the CalChamber Executive Committee:
• Tom Hutchinson, vice president, finance, Google;
• Rashmi Menon, vice president and general manager, Burns & McDonnell Engineering Co., Inc; and
• Kevin Tilden, president, California American Water.
In addition to the at-large members and current officers, the Executive Committee includes three past chairs of the CalChamber Board: Janet A. Liang, executive vice president, group president and COO, care delivery, Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc. and Hospitals; Greg Bielli, president and CEO, Tejon Ranch Company; and Kailesh Karavadra, partner for Ernst & Young LLP.
The Executive Committee works with top CalChamber management to determine policy, financial and program direction, including, when necessary, providing policy guidance between the regular quarterly meetings of the CalChamber Board.