Anthony Z. Roisman, Chair
Current Term: 2017 - 2023
Anthony Roisman was appointed Chairman of the Public Utility Commission by Governor Phil Scott for a six-year term beginning on June 12, 2017. At the time of his appointment he was consulting with state attorneys general and other attorneys on environmental litigation, public participation before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and state regulatory agencies, and on the admissibility of expert testimony in complex litigation. In addition to his experience with energy, he has extensive experience litigating claims for injury from exposure to toxic substances. He has also served as Senior Staff Attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council (1977-1979), Chief of the Hazardous Waste Section and Special Litigator for Hazardous Waste in the Lands and Natural Resources Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (1979-1982), and Executive Director of Trial Lawyers for Public Justice (1982-1987). He has been an Adjunct Professor and Research Fellow in Environmental Studies at Dartmouth College and lectures frequently with the American Law Institute and others on expert witness admissibility and environmental law. He has served on committees, advisory committees or task forces of the National Judicial College, the American Law Institute, the National Research Council of the National Academy of Scientists, the Brookings Institute, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the American Bar Association, the Vermont Association for Justice, the Environmental Clinic of the Vermont Law School and the Environmental Law Institute. He was a member of the Board and President of the Board of the Hanover Food Cooperative. He is a 1960 graduate of Dartmouth College and 1963 graduate of Harvard Law School. He resides in Weathersfield with his wife, seven cats and four horses.
Margaret Cheney, Commissioner
Current Term: 2013 - 2025
Margaret Cheney was appointed to the Vermont Public Utility Commission in 2013 by Governor Peter Shumlin and was reappointed by Governor Phil Scott in 2020. Ms. Cheney has been a journalist, educator, and legislator. Prior to joining the Commission, she served seven years in the Vermont Legislature, where she was vice chair of the House Natural Resources and Energy Committee. She began her career as a newspaper reporter and editor in Menlo Park, California, before becoming managing editor of The Washingtonian magazine in Washington, DC. In Vermont, she taught Spanish and energy courses at Sharon Academy while continuing her journalism work as a freelance writer in publications such as the Washington Post, The Washingtonian, the Foreign Service Journal, and Arcadia Press.
Ms. Cheney is currently a member of NARUC’s Committee on Energy Resources and the Environment. Before her election to the Vermont Legislature in 2006, she served nine years as chair of the Norwich School Board and interstate Dresden School Board. She has also served on the boards of Vermont Center for Ecostudies, Vermont Institute of Natural Science, Montshire Museum of Science, Norwich Historical Society, and Child and Family Services. She has spoken on energy policy both in the US and in Germany.
The daughter of a Foreign Service officer, Ms. Cheney grew up and was educated in Malaysia, the Netherlands, Nicaragua, India, and Peru. She received her B.A. with honors from Harvard University, where she was awarded the Bowdoin Prize for writing. She has three children and lives in Norwich with her husband, Peter Welch.
Sarah Hofmann, Commissioner
Current Term: 2015 - 2021
Sarah Hofmann was appointed to the Public Utility Commission by Governor Peter Shumlin in 2015. She serves on the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners Board of Directors, the Telecommunications Committee, and the Subcommittee on Nuclear Issues - Waste Disposal. She also serves as chair for the Nuclear Waste Strategy Coalition (NWSC). She is a member of the Executive Committee of the National Council on Electricity Policy (NCEP). Ms. Hofmann serves on the Federal-State Joint Board on Jurisdictional Separations in Telecommunications and the Interstate Telecommunications Relay Service Advisory Board.
Prior to joining the Commission, Ms. Hofmann was the Executive Director of the New England Conference of Public Utilities Commissioners, Inc. (NECPUC). Before becoming Executive Director of NECPUC, Ms. Hofmann was the Deputy Commissioner of the Department of Public Service. She also has served as the Director for the Public Advocacy and Consumer Affairs and Public Information for the Department and prior to that, Special Counsel. In her roles at the Department, she often directed the Department's litigation, including matters before the Public Utility Commission, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and the state and federal courts.
Ms. Hofmann is a graduate of Rollins College and the University of New Hampshire School of Law. She resides in Montpelier, Vermont.