AESO Board Announcement: Leadership Transition and Departure of Michael Law
July 18, 2024
The Alberta Electric System Operator (AESO) Board has recently announced that Michael Law, President and Chief Executive Officer, will leave the organization, effective August 1, 2024.
Law first joined the AESO in 2009 as Vice-President, Operations and was promoted to President and Chief Executive Officer in 2019.
“This is a critical time for the AESO as we move towards both a new market design and significant energy transition activities,” said Karl Johannson, AESO Board Chair. “The AESO continues to focus on the next milestone as it progresses design work on the Restructured Energy Market in parallel with government policy.”
To ensure a seamless transition of the AESO’s critical work, the AESO Board is pleased to announce that Aaron Engen will assume the role of President and Chief Executive Officer of the AESO, effective August 1, 2024, following Law’s departure.
Engen has served on the AESO’s board of directors since 2020 and is currently the Chair of the Power System Committee. He has over two decades of investment banking experience most recently as Vice Chair, Investment & Corporate Banking at BMO Capital Markets. His work focused on energy infrastructure including power and utilities and he co-headed the bank’s Power & Energy Infrastructure group. More recently, he co-headed BMO’s Energy Transition group which focused on key sectors including hydrogen, carbon capture and sequestration, renewable natural gas, renewable power generation, energy storage and small modular reactors.
Prior to joining BMO Capital Markets, Engen was a partner at a major Canadian law firm, where he practiced corporate and securities law. He has a Master of Business Administration and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Alberta, as well as a Bachelor of Arts and Science from the University of Lethbridge.
“The AESO Board is confident in Aaron’s ability to assume the President and CEO role,” said Johannson. “He will play a key role in engaging with stakeholders in the development of Alberta’s market design and brings deep corporate finance, investment and transactional experience which will help support the AESO and stakeholders as we move through this transition.”
