Retired Chairman and CEO of SoCalGas (retd. 2020)
Bret Lane is the former chairman and chief executive officer of Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas), the nation's largest gas distribution company and subsidiary of Sempra Energy.
In this role, Bret was responsible for more than 8,000 employees and the service of 22 million customers while articulating a new, strategic clean-energy vision that would make SoCalGas the cleanest gas utility in North America.
From 2014 to 2018, Bret served as president and chief operating officer for SoCalGas managing all operations related to the safe, efficient delivery of natural gas services while leading strategy development focused on the fuel's reliability and affordability. During this time, he also chaired the internal finance committee to deploy $1.5 billion of capital to enhance safety and reliability of operating systems.
Bret has prolific engineering and corporate governance expertise with more than 38 years of executive and management experience between SoCalGas and San Diego Gas & Electric (SDGE). His leadership positions include chief environmental officer and several vice presidencies across environment, labor relations, safety, operations, and systems integrity.
Bret previously served the Gas Technology Institute board of directors as chairman and chaired the executive committee of the American Gas Association from 2017 until 2020.