José L. Pérez co-founded the first council of its kind, the California Utilities Diversity Council (CUDC) in 2003, with Michael R. Peevey, who is former president of the California Public Utilities Commission. The CUDC set new benchmarks and led to new achievements in diversity by California-regulated companies.  In 2008, José co-founded another first council of its kind, the National Utilities Diversity Council (NUDC), and served as its president for three years creating national awareness and synergistic efforts toward reaching diversity goals.

Mr. Pérez has provided visionary leadership in promoting diversity in the new energy economy from Sacramento, California to Washington, DC. José is a national speaker on diversity, public policy, community and business partnerships, and finance in the energy and utility industries. He has presented at the National Association of Hispanics Publications in Washington D.C., National Association of Regulated Utility Commissioners (NARUC) in Denver and San Francisco, National Council of La Raza in New Orleans and the Mexican American Engineering Society in San Diego. In 2014, José was featured in as one of the nation’s “Most Influential Latinos in Energy” in Latino Leaders, a national printed publication.

In 1996, José founded the Latino Journal, a non-partisan publication focused on independent analyses of public policy and government from a Latino perspective. José earned his degree in Government from California State University, Sacramento and a Certificate on Corporate Governance from the Graduate School of Business at Harvard University in Cambridge, MA.