PG&E has parted ways with a top executive representing Silicon Valley, following this news organization’s reporting on the executive’s involvement in a City Council campaign that received money from the energy giant.
Teresa Alvarado announced her separation from the Bay Area’s $40 billion investor-owned power utility on LinkedIn last month. For the past four years, Alvarado has served as a local face for the controversial company as one of five regional vice presidents. Alvarado’s region stretched from the mountain, coastal and farming communities of Santa Clara County to Santa Barbara.
Her post left unclear the nature of her leaving, and she did not respond to requests for comment. The company declined to comment in September amid murmurs of Alvarado’s pending departure.
“While it is sad to leave such a fulfilling role and many real friends, I am so grateful for all that I have been a part of in the last 4+ years as we focused every day on turning the company around and rebuilding trust with the communities we serve,” Alvarado wrote on LinkedIn.
Alvarado, who worked for the company as a lobbyist and program manager in the early aughts, returned to the company in June 2021 amid efforts to repair its image over power shutoffs and rising utility bills.
But more recently, Alvarado faced scrutiny for helping run this year’s District 3 special election campaign for Gabby Chavez-Lopez, executive director of the Latina Coalition of Silicon Valley, which Alvarado founded, while a special interest group with PG&E funding spent independently to support Chavez-Lopez’s candidacy.
Alvarado and Chavez-Lopez both denied the campaign involvement after San José Spotlight first reported on emails showing Alvarado running campaign meetings with volunteers to discuss fundraising, endorsements, mail and media strategy. Questions mounted after other news outlets obtained the same communications.
In addition to fundraising and endorsements, Alvarado set an agenda for discussing phone banking, house parties, media opportunities and strategizing responses to issues emerging over the course of the campaign. Chavez-Lopez ultimately lost the election to Anthony Tordillos.
At the time, PG&E maintained any participation by Alvarado was independent of the company.
Alvarado’s other notable stints include leadership roles at GreenWaste Recovery, Valley Water, the Hispanic Foundation of Silicon Valley and SPUR.
“I am proud of the internal culture and operational changes I helped to instill as well as the external engagement with customers and exciting partnerships I initiated that are now well underway and will yield tangible, economic development-enabling results,” Alvarado wrote.
She closes out her remarks with plans to do consulting and hold an interim CEO role at a nonprofit.
“Thank you to all who have reached out with offers of support and connection, demonstrating once again what community really is. I am grateful to be a part of such a beautiful village,” Alvarado wrote.
Contact Brandon Pho at [email protected] or @brandonphooo on X.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.