Judge Rainey was appointed Chief Administrative Law Judge of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission on September 16, 2010. He leads the Office of Administrative Law Judge, which includes administrative law judges, mediators, lawyers and support staff in Harrisburg, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Judge Rainey has 42 years of experience in public utility law. Prior to his current position, he served as Administrative Law Judge and Office Manager in Philadelphia. In 2008 he was presented the Golden Gavel Award by the Office of Administrative Law Judge for his decision, which was adopted by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, in the Verizon/MCI merger case. In his 34 years at the PUC he has also served as Executive Deputy Chief Counsel in the Law Bureau and Legal Counsel to a Commissioner. In the Philadelphia City Solicitor’s Office, Judge Rainey served as Chief Assistant City Solicitor and Counsel to the Philadelphia Gas Commission. He has also served as an Assistant Consumer Advocate in the Pennsylvania Office of Consumer Advocate. Judge Rainey has presented on public utility law in Ghana, India and Pakistan, and to delegations from Russia, South Korea, El Salvador, Uruguay, Zambia and Armenia. He earned his B.A. from the College of the Holy Cross and his J.D. from Antioch University School of Law.

Mr. Zambito is the Harrisburg Office Managing Partner of Cozen O’Connor, an 825-attorney, full-service law firm with offices in 31 cities on two continents.  The firm is ranked among the top 100 law firms in the country.  He is Chair of the firm’s Utility & Energy Group and concentrates his practice on water/wastewater, natural gas, electric, telecommunications, transportation, and large development project matters.  He is a member of the firm’s Management Committee, Political Action Committee and Marketing Committee, and chaired the firm’s Shareholder Nominating Committee.  Among other awards and recognitions, Mr. Zambito has been named to Best Lawyers in America for 2023-24 and Energy & Environment Power 100 by City & State Pennsylvania in 2023.  He received his B.A. from Grove City College, magna cum laude, and his J.D. from The Dickinson School of Law, where he was a member of the Dickinson Law Review and Appellate Moot Court Board.  Following law school, he served three years as a Captain in the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s (JAG) Corps, stationed at Fort Knox, Kentucky.  In addition to prosecuting courts-martial and acting as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney, he instructed courses on military justice, the law of war, and government employee ethics.  Following his military service, Mr. Zambito served as legal counsel to Glen Thomas, former Chairman of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission.  His clients include American Water and its subsidiary Pennsylvania-American Water Company, Veolia Water Pennsylvania f/k/a SUEZ Water Pennsylvania, PJM Interconnection, National Association of Water Companies – PA Chapter, Amazon.com, Talen Energy, Cordia Energy, SteelRiver Infrastructure Fund North America, IFM Global Infrastructure Fund, Riverstone Holdings, Securus Technologies, SpaceX, Saracen Energy, The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania/University of Pennsylvania Health System, The Westover Companies, and Perdue AgriBusiness.

Judge Vero was appointed as an administrative law judge in January of 2011 and is assigned to the Commission’s Philadelphia office. Prior to becoming an ALJ, she served for four years as a Special Agent in the Legal Division of the Commission’s Office of Administrative Law Judge. She received her B.A. from Temple University, summa cum laude, and her J.D. from Penn State University, The Dickinson School of Law.

Mr. Povilaitis is a Shareholder in the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania office of Buchanan, Ingersoll & Rooney, P.C., where he focuses on administrative law matters before various state and federal courts and agencies in the areas of energy, water, transportation and telecommunications, as well as agreements for transactions involving energy production and services. Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Povilaitis served as chief counsel of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission and successively served as assistant counsel, deputy chief counsel, and first deputy chief counsel, before assuming the position of chief counsel which he held for eight years. Mr. Povilaitis is a past chairperson of the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Public Utility Law Section and past editor of the Section’s newsletter. Since 1990, he has been a course planner and speaker at the Pennsylvania Bar Institute’s biannual Public Utility Law Conference, and is also a planner for the biannual PA PUC Bench Bar Conference. Mr. Povilaitis is a graduate of LaSalle University and earned his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. He is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, several United States Federal District Courts, in addition to the several Courts of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Mr. Povilaitis is a member of the American Bar Association, Pennsylvania Bar Association, Dauphin County Bar Association and the Energy Bar Association. 

Elizabeth Barnes has been Deputy Chief Counsel in the Law Bureau of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission since July 2022. She is primarily responsible for federal energy matters as well as regulatory review. Prior to her appointment, she served as an Administrative Law Judge in the Harrisburg office of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission from July 2010 – July 2022. From December 1998 – July 2010, she was Assistant Counsel in the Commission’s Law Bureau. Ms. Barnes holds a B.S. in Marketing/Pre-Law from Juniata College and a J.D. from Widener University Delaware Law School.

Mr. Scott has served as an Assistant Counsel in the Law Bureau of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission since June 2012, representing the Commission in both state and federal matters concerning various regulated utility sectors, most recently pole attachment disputes and water cases.  He has served on iterations of the Commission’s Cyber Team, the Small Gas Task Force, and as counsel to the Consumer Advisory Council.  Currently, he works with the Pole Attachment Working Group, as a solicitor for the Damage Prevention Committee, and has been involved with several of the Commission’s ongoing rulemaking proceedings.  Mr. Scott received his J.D. in 2011 from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, where he was a K. Leroy Irvis Fellowship recipient, and a B.A. in Criminology, magna cum laude, from Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

Rosemary Chiavetta was appointed Secretary of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission on April 15, 2010. Prior to her return to the Commission, Secretary Chiavetta was the sole proprietor of Chiavetta Consulting specializing in legal advice and government relations for clients in the areas of public utilities, labor, health care, education, financial investments, mergers and acquisitions, and the environment. Before entering private practice, Secretary Chiavetta served in the Commission between March of 1993 and April of 1999 as an Assistant Counsel in the Commission’s Law Bureau, as Counsel to former PUC Chairman John M. Quain, and as the Commission’s Director of Legislative Affairs. Prior to her first tour of duty with the Commission, Secretary Chiavetta served as a Legislative Assistant and Counsel in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. Secretary Chiavetta is a graduate of Notre Dame of Maryland University and the Dickinson School of Law. She and her husband, William K. Dempster reside in Harrisburg. 

Shelby currently serves as PPL Electric Utilities’ Senior Director of Government, Regulatory and External Affairs. In this role, Linton-Keddie leads PPL Electric’s advocacy strategy and relationships with key stakeholders.  A dynamic thinker, Shelby has provided innovative and effective strategy on a wide range of utility regulatory and legislative issues for almost two decades. Shelby came to PPL Electric from the Edison Electric Institute (EEI), where she served as Executive Director of State Regulatory Affairs and oversaw EEI’s national engagement and strategy on state regulatory issues before public utility commissions.  She also co-led EEI’s cross-functional state practice team, which focused on emerging industry policy trends on key topics.  Prior to her time with EEI, Linton-Keddie has held various regulatory and legal counsel positions, including serving as Manager of Regulatory Strategy at Duquesne Light Company and at the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, where she was legal counsel to Commissioner Pamela Witmer.  She also has served in various advocate roles, both as an intern at the Office of Consumer Advocate and as an Assistant Small Business Advocate. In all these roles, Shelby has experience actively managing utility strategies and making policy decisions on a variety of issues. Ms. Linton-Keddie received her J.D. from the Dickinson School of Law of The Pennsylvania State University, where she served as Managing Editor of the Penn State International Law Review. In addition, Ms. Linton-Keddie holds a B.S., cum laude, and a M.Ed. from Millersville University. 

Melanie Joy El Atieh serves as the Deputy Consumer Advocate at the Office of Consumer Advocate (OCA) since April 2024. She served as a Senior Assistant Consumer Advocate between October 2023 and March 2024. Prior to joining the OCA, Mel served as Assistant Counsel at the Public Utility Commission (PUC), in the Law Bureau between 2021-2023, and in the Office of Special Assistants between 2017 and 2021. At the PUC, Mel successfully represented the agency in complex appellate cases before the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Between 2005 – 2017, Mel obtained experience in the natural gas, electricity, water, and wastewater industries within the regulated utility and competitive market spaces, as follows: as in-house counsel at American Water, where she advised on complex rate, regulatory, litigation, and transactional matters to utility business units in Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Maryland (2015-2017); as the manager, rates & regulatory planning at UGI Utilities, Inc. (2014-2015), where she oversaw the preparation of base rate, purchased gas cost, default service, and DSIC rate filings; as in-house counsel at UGI Corporation, where she provided legal, business, and ethics counsel on complex matters to diverse business units (2010-2014); and, as an associate (2008-2010), summer associate (2007), and part-time law clerk (2005-2007) at Blank Rome LLP. In 2008, she graduated from Temple University Beasley School of Law. Before law school, between 2002 – 2005, Mel worked for the PUC as an executive policy analyst in the Office of the Honorable Glen R. Thomas. In 2002, she graduated from Temple University with a B.A. in Economics, highest distinction. Mel served in the following leadership roles in the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s (PBA’s) Public Utility Law Section from 2018 through 2024: Immediate Past Chair & Section Delegate to the PBA House of Delegates, Chair, Vice Chair, Secretary, Treasurer, and Young Lawyers’ Division Liaison.

Michael Mroczka is a special agent in the OALJ. A graduate of Keystone College and New England Law, he worked several years with North Penn Legal Services as a Contract Attorney and Staff Attorney where he represented low-income clients in several fields, including but not limited to, custody, protection from abuse, landlord/tenant, Unemployment Compensation and debt collection defense. He also spent time as an adjunct professor at Johnson College where he instructed business students in the subject of Business Law.  Michael began his career with the PUC in September 2022. 

Ms. Tran joined the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission in 2015 as a Special Agent in the Office of Administrative Law Judge, where she served as a presiding officer, and reviewed and drafted ALJ decisions. Since 2017 she has been an Assistant Counsel in the Commission’s Law Bureau, representing the Commission in trial and appellate courts, and providing advice on a variety of legal issues. She currently serves as staff counsel assigned to the Commission’s Consumer Advisory Council and the Telecommunications Relay Service Advisory Board. Ms. Tran received her J.D. from the Penn State University Dickinson School of Law and holds a B.A. in Fine Arts from Saint Joseph’s University.

Chairman Stephen M. DeFrank was nominated by Governor Wolf on September 20, 2022, and confirmed by the Senate on October 19, 2022. He was appointed as Chairman on August 30, 2023, by Governor Josh Shapiro. His term expires on April 1, 2025. Prior to joining the PaPUC, the Chairman was a principal in the government relations practice at Buchannan Ingersoll & Rooney.  He also spent 24 years in state government, primarily in the state Senate, serving in several roles with Senate leadership, including Chief of Staff for two members, Special Assistant for Policy to the Democratic Leader, and Democratic Executive Director of the Senate Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure Committee.  As Committee Director, the Chairman developed policy initiatives impacting the utility sector, including the creation of the Distribution System Improvement Charge (DSIC), authorization of Transportation Network Companies, and modernizing the Public Utility Code relative to energy, water, wastewater and telecommunications. Chairman DeFrank resides in Harrisburg with his family.

Gina L. Miller has been a prosecutor with the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission’s Bureau of Investigation and Enforcement for the last eight years. In her role at the PUC, Ms. Miller is charged with representing the public interest in ratemaking and related proceedings and with enforcing the Pennsylvania Public Utility Code in acquisitions and various matters that are pending before the PUC. Ms. Miller has prosecuted cases arising in the gas, electric, water, and wastewater industries. Prior to her work at the PUC, Ms. Miller worked as a litigator at a general practice law firm in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Ms. Miller earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication from the University of Pittsburgh and her Juris Doctor degree from Widener University School of Law in Harrisburg. Ms. Miller currently serves as a Co-Vice Chair of Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Commission on Women in the Profession, and she also serves as both the Program Chair and as a Barrister member of the James S. Bowman American Inn of Court. In 2022, Ms. Miller became a certified Spinning© instructor and she teaches classes in the Harrisburg area in her spare time.

Mr. Van de Verg joined the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission in 2021 as an Assistant Counsel in the Law Bureau, representing the Commission in federal and state trial and appellate courts, and providing advice to the Commission and its bureaus on a variety of legal issues, including cybersecurity, federal energy, pole attachments and telecommunications. He currently represents the Commission on the NARUC Staff Subcommittee on Telecommunications. Mr. Van de Verg was promoted to Deputy Chief Counsel in May, 2024. Prior to joining the Commission, Mr. Van de Verg served as in-house counsel at a telecommunications services provider and as a solo practitioner in Baltimore, Maryland. Mr. Van de Verg received his J.D. and MSL (Cybersecurity Law & Policy) from the University of Maryland School of Law and holds a B.A. in History from the University of Virginia.