Nashville Electric Service adds new Board member, names new Board chair, Vice chair

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Nashville Electric Service (NES) today announced the appointment of Michael P. Vandenbergh to the Electric Power Board. Additionally, Carolyn Schott and Irma Paz-Bernstein have been named chair and vice chair of the Electric Power Board, respectively.

Vandenbergh is a distinguished professor of law at Vanderbilt University. In addition to directing Vanderbilt’s Climate Change Research Network, Professor Vandenbergh serves as co-director of the law school’s Energy, Environment and Land Use Program. He was named a David Daniels Allen Distinguished Professor of Law in 2013. He teaches courses in environmental law, energy and property.

Schott is a partner with the law firm of Sherrard Roe Voigt & Harbison, PLC. She also currently chairs the board of the United Methodist Foundation for the Memphis and Tennessee Conferences and is a member of the board of directors of the Nashville Symphony. Schott is completing her fifth year on the Electric Power Board.

Paz-Bernstein, who has been a member of the board since 2013, is the owner of Las Paletas Gourmet Popsicles. She also currently serves on the committee for the Children’s Memory Garden of Nashville.

Vandenbergh, Schott and Paz-Bernstein serve with Rob McCabe and Clinton Gray III on the Electric Power Board. McCabe, who was appointed to the board in 2009, is chairman of Pinnacle Financial Partners. Gray was appointed to the board in 2019 and is co-founder and chief marketing officer at SOON Hospitality, a parent company of North Nashville-based restaurant Slim & Husky’s, and GT Services, a federally based staffing and logistics firm.

NES’ five-member board is appointed by the mayor and confirmed by the council to serve five-year staggered terms without pay.