Joseph L. Welch
Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, ITC Holdings Corp.
Member
As chairman, president and chief executive officer, Mr. Welch is responsible for the strategic vision and overall business operation of ITC Holdings and its subsidiaries. Under Mr. Welch’s leadership, ITC and its subsidiaries have been singularly focused on investing in the high-voltage transmission system in order to provide best-in-class service to customers and pursuing transmission infrastructure improvements that will increase reliability, reduce constraints and lower the total cost of delivered energy. Mr. Welch is a leading voice in energy policy development that will support an evolving energy future and national economic development.
Since the beginning of his career in the utility business in 1971, Mr. Welch has held positions of increasing responsibility in the electricity transmission, distribution, rates, load research, marketing, pricing, and regulatory affairs that included the development and implementation of regulatory strategies. He established ITCTransmission as a stand-alone entity from its parent corporation in 2003 in Michigan and to date, as the eighth largest transmission company in the United States, ITC and its subsidiaries now span across a seven state region.
Mr. Welch has a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Kansas and is a licensed professional engineer in the state of Michigan. Mr. Welch is a member of the Board of Directors of the Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce, the Detroit Economic Club, and Lotus Bank. He is on the Advisory Board of the University of Kansas College of Engineering and a member of the CEO Steering Committee for Council on Competitiveness Manufacturing Initiative. Mr. Welch is also the co-author of Competitive Energy Markets: The Power of Choice.
Mr. Welch in involved with a number of charitable organizations, most notably the Welch Family Foundation which provides college scholarships for students at the University of Kansas.