Ray Palmieri, ReliabilityFirst (RF) senior vice president
and treasurer, announced his retirement, effective June 1, 2020. In addition to
serving as treasurer since 2012, Palmieri was a member of the team who
established ReliabilityFirst Corporation in 2006, and he was the organization’s
sole vice president for many years before being promoted to senior vice
president. He was responsible for the leadership and implementation of the
Reliability Engineering, IT and Finance functions, and he continued to support
RF’s efforts to ensure the NERC and RF policies, procedures and standards were adhered
to such that reliability of the Bulk Power System was advanced.
“It would be difficult, if not impossible, to sum up Ray’s
immeasurable contributions to the industry and tireless efforts to advance RF,”
said Tim Gallagher, RF president and CEO. “I’m grateful to Ray for his
partnership over the last 15 years in developing RF since its infancy to become
the strong Region it is today, as well as for his friendship, leadership,
comradery and passion for this industry. There are so many of us throughout the
ERO who know Ray and have been touched by our interactions with him, and his
legacy in our industry is one that will last for many years to come.”
Palmieri’s leadership elevated the importance of industry
performance monitoring, and he championed enhanced performance and reliability
management through feedback and a drive toward continuous improvement.
“Throughout my career, I’m fortunate to have connected and
engaged with such talented and dedicated professionals, and I’m especially
proud of the strides we made to advance the compliance aspects of the
industry,” said Palmieri. “The success of the utility industry is paramount to
the advancement of society, and I wish the industry and all the people in it
nothing but success in carrying out the mission I’ve enjoyed working toward
together for the past 47 years.”
Prior to the establishment of RF, Palmieri worked in the
ECAR region, starting up the compliance program for one of the three
predecessor reliability regions that formed RF. He has worked with and chaired a
number of NERC teams, including compliance, standards, registration,
organization certification and reliability coordination. He held various senior
leadership positions in Operations, Engineering and support functions for 24
years at the Nuclear Generation Facilities for Northeast Utilities and Exelon,
as well as maintaining a Senior Reactor Operators license for 15 years.
Palmieri is a Professional Engineer in New York and
Connecticut; a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers; a past
chairman and member of various Nuclear Industry Owners Groups; and served as a
Lieutenant in the U.S. Naval Reserve. He graduated from New York Maritime
College with a Bachelor of Engineering in Marine/Mechanical Engineering and
holds an MBA from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.