FERC Chairman Willie Phillips today announced two key Chairman’s office staff appointments: Kal Ayoub as Critical Infrastructure and Resilience Advisor and Richard Lehfeldt as Senior Legal Advisor.
Ayoub has served as Deputy Director of the Office of Electric Reliability (OER) Division of Cyber Security since 2015. Prior to being named Division Deputy Director, Ayoub served in various Commission positions within OER, including those of Supervisory Electrical Engineer and Electrical Engineer.
Before joining the Commission in 2009, he was employed in the private electric sector, working for Baltimore Gas & Electric, Constellation Energy and General Physics Corporation. While in private industry, Ayoub also worked on reliability and compliance programs in preparation for the nation’s first set of mandatory reliability standards that were approved by FERC in 2007. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Maryland Baltimore County.
Lehfeldt has served since August 2021 as an attorney-advisor in the FERC Office of General Counsel. His previous experience includes serving as partner in two Washington, D.C., law firms; Senior Vice President for External Affairs at TECO Energy; Vice President, Government Liaison/Assistant General Counsel for Edison Mission Energy; and counsel to the House Energy & Commerce Subcommittee on Energy and Power.
Lehfeldt graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Michigan with a Bachelor of Arts in comparative literature. He also earned a Master of Public Policy at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and a Juris Doctor, cum laude, from Harvard University Law School.
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