Alum Becomes First Female CEO of Tucson Electric Power

Susan Gray, who earned her bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Arizona, recently assumed the role of president and chief executive officer of Tucson Electric Power — the first female CEO in the company's 120-year history. 

The Arizona Daily Star recently highlighted Gray's achievements, detailing her rise from a student intern at TEP in 1994, to an engineer for the utility, to vice president, and finally as the company's leader.

As a TEP's vice president since 2015 and now president, Gray is one of the architects of TEP’s plan to get more than 70% of its power from wind and solar resources and reduce carbon emissions by 80% by 2035.

“That’s the great thing about becoming the CEO of a company that you’ve worked for for so long, and to get involved in the strategy even before you’re in this seat,” Gray told the Star. “I’m a third-generation utility power engineer, so it’s in the blood, I knew the business... But that was not where I was headed — I thought I wanted to do biomedical engineering. But I fell in love with the culture at TEP and learned there’s a lot more exciting things going on at an electric utility than I had ever guessed.”