COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Alton D. "A.D." Patton has been selected to a three-year term as an Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) independent board member (unaffiliated with any market participants). He was selected unanimously by the board’s nominating committee and approved in an email vote of ERCOT’s 220 corporate members. Patton is professor emeritus of electrical engineering at Texas A&M University with 35 years experience as a faculty member, including four years as head of the electrical engineering department. He also is president of Associated Power Analysts Inc. in College Station, an engineering consulting service providing electric power system analysis, power system reliability and failure analysis. I am very pleased to welcome Dr. Patton to the board. With all of his experience and industry respect, he will certainly be an asset to our board, ERCOT Chairman Mark Armentrout said. "ERCOT is fortunate to add him as a board member." Patton was a former director and past board member of the Texas Engineering Experiment Station’s Center for Space Power. Honors include being named recipient of the 2000 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Richard Harold Kaufmann Award for outstanding achievement in the field of industrial systems engineering. Patton also is a Life Fellow of IEEE, was named a TEES Fellow in 1985 and is on the Editorial Advisory Board for the International Journal of Electrical Power & Energy Systems. He has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas at Austin, a master’s from the University of Pittsburgh, and doctorate from Texas A&M University, all in electrical engineering. Patton fills the board position vacated by Carolyn Gallagher who completed her elected term in March. ERCOT manages the flow of electric power to approximately 20 million customers in Texas. Acting as the independent system operator (ISO) for the region, ERCOT schedules power on an electric grid containing 38,000 miles of transmission lines and 500 generating units. ERCOT also manages financial settlement for the competitive wholesale bulk-power market and administers customer switching for 6 million Texans in competitive choice areas. ERCOT is a membership-based nonprofit corporation governed by a board of directors and subject to the oversight of the Public Utility Commission of Texas and the Texas Legislature.
