Don Ballard

Don Ballard oversees the cooperative’s legal matters, including governance, litigation, risk mitigation and policy. He is responsible for managing ethics and compliance as well as open records administration.

Before joining PEC, he was appointed by the governor to serve as the Texas Public Utility Counsel, representing residential and small business customers in electricity and telecommunications matters. In that position, he served on the board of directors for the Electric Reliability Council of Texas.

Ballard has also served as general counsel to the Texas Workforce Commission, assistant general counsel at the Teacher Retirement System of Texas, a chief attorney at the Texas Public Utility Commission and deputy chief of the Open Records Division in the Office of the Texas Attorney General. He is a past president of the Administrative and Public Law Section of the Austin Bar and is also a qualified mediator. In 2007, he received the Texas General Counsel Forum’s Magna Stella Award for excellence in leadership and management.

Ballard graduated from The University of Texas at Austin School of Law and holds a Bachelor of Arts from Baylor University in Waco, Texas.