Meet LPPC

Jackie Flowers is Director of Utilities and CEO of Tacoma Public Utilities, a role she has held since 2018. She brings more than 30 years of professional experience, including 15 years managing public utilities across hydropower generation, power supply, transmission and distribution, energy efficiency, engineering, operations technology, fiber optic networks, and traffic signalization.

Flowers serves on the boards of the Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber of Commerce, the Economic Development Board for Tacoma-Pierce County, LPPC, and Grid Forward. She is also a member of the American Public Power Association CEO Climate Change Task Force.

L. Javier Fernandez is President and CEO of Omaha Public Power District. He joined OPPD in 2017 as Vice President and Chief Financial Officer and was selected by the OPPD Board of Directors to serve as President and CEO in 2021.

Before joining OPPD, Fernandez served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of the Bonneville Power Administration, part of the U.S. Department of Energy. Earlier in his career, he held senior public finance roles with D.A. Davidson & Co. and Seattle-Northwest Securities, where he advised municipal jurisdictions on financing infrastructure and public services.

Fernandez serves on the boards of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City Omaha Branch, Bellevue University, the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce, and Habitat for Humanity of Omaha. He holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México, an MBA from Yale University, a Utility Management Certificate from Willamette University, and a Utility Executive Certificate from the University of Idaho.

Tom Falcone is President of the Large Public Power Council, an association of 29 of the largest not-for-profit public power systems in the United States. Together, LPPC members provide electricity to more than 30.5 million people across 23 states and territories.

Before joining LPPC in 2024, Falcone served as Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer of the Long Island Power Authority, the nation’s third-largest public power utility. During his tenure, LIPA increased grid investment by 300%, reduced outages by 40%, achieved top-tier reliability, and launched the nation’s first utility-scale offshore wind farm. LIPA also secured approval for $3.3 billion in transmission investments to integrate 3,000 megawatts of clean energy, deployed smart meters and opt-out time-of-day rates, earned four credit-rating upgrades, and reduced leverage by 25%, while keeping electric rate adjustments below inflation.

Falcone is a past chair of LPPC and has served on the boards of the American Public Power Association, the Association of Edison Illuminating Companies, and the Advanced Energy Research and Technology Center at Stony Brook University. Before joining LIPA, he was an investment banker and advisor to publicly owned utilities and state and local governments, raising more than $25 billion for infrastructure investments nationwide. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Sarah Vilms leads LPPC’s federal legislative and regulatory strategy, working with member utilities, task forces, consultants, and external partners to advance policy priorities affecting the nation’s largest public power systems.

Vilms brings more than 30 years of experience in energy policy, federal advocacy, and government relations, including more than 25 years working with Congress, the White House, and federal agencies on appropriations, funding, permitting, transmission, interconnection, and energy infrastructure. Before joining LPPC, she served as Vice President of Strategic Growth Initiatives at the Solar Energy Industries Association. She previously spent 25 years at Squire Patton Boggs as a Principal in the firm’s energy and public policy practice, advising trade associations, Fortune 100 and Fortune 500 companies, and major energy, industrial, transportation, and consumer-brand clients.

Sam Robledo serves as Vice President of Member Services and Secretary of the Board of Directors for LPPC, where she leads member engagement, governance support, meeting planning, and organizational operations for the association’s 29 member utilities.

Robledo has worked with LPPC for more than a decade, supporting the association’s governance, member services, and organizational operations through a period of growth and increasing collaboration among the nation’s largest public power systems. She works closely with LPPC’s President, Board of Directors, committees, task forces, and member utility executives to support decision-making, strengthen member engagement, and deliver consistent value to members.

Robledo brings more than 15 years of experience in association management, nonprofit operations, strategic communications, business planning, and event management, with a focus on energy-sector organizations. Her work supports CEO and Board meetings, member communications, shared resources, and LPPC’s member-facing platforms, helping connect more than 1,700 public power professionals across operations, finance, cybersecurity, safety, workforce, supply chain, customer experience, communications, and federal policy. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Public Relations from The University of Texas at Austin.