Executive Vice President and General Counsel
Rob Berntsen is executive vice president and general counsel and is responsible for all corporate legal affairs and supervision of AEP's legal department.
Berntsen most recently was executive vice president and chief legal and compliance officer at Xcel Energy. Prior to joining Xcel, he was senior vice president, chief of staff and general counsel at BHE Renewables, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Energy (BHE). Prior to BHE Renewables, Berntsen served as senior vice president and general counsel for BHE subsidiary MidAmerican Energy Company and led the utility’s legal, regulatory, government affairs, compliance and energy efficiency groups.
Prior to joining MidAmerican, he also served as vice president of policy, government and regulatory affairs for the Midcontinent Independent System Operator Inc. (MISO), chair and member of the Iowa Utilities Commission, and corporate counsel for energy holding company Vectren Corp. (now part of CenterPoint Energy).
Berntsen was a captain in the Judge Advocate General (JAG) Corps, the legal arm of the U.S. Army, and deployed to Iraq in 2005 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. He received his bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University and his juris doctorate from the University of Iowa.