Meet Our Executive Committee
The Executive Committee ensures that SGA’s executive initiatives serve member company needs. Members of the Executive Committee provide ongoing insight and guidance to SGA for development and evolution of programming, events and training.
Cristie Neller
Cristie D. Neller is vice president Administrative Services for Berkshire Hathaway Energy Gas Transmission and Storage.
She is responsible for business related services in support of the BHE GT&S team, an integrated interstate gas transmission and storage company across the East Coast, as well as supporting the broader Berkshire Hathaway Energy Business Transformation efforts.
Beginning as a co-op/intern at Virginia Power, she continued her early career at Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Corp. in Houston, Tx and in Charlottesville, Va. She joined Dominion Energy in 1998, advancing through progressive leadership positions across the power generation sector in operations and engineering, all while earning her Six Sigma Black Belt from the Six Sigma Academy. In 2009, she became station director at Clover Power Station, where the team achieved recognition as top midsized coal generating facility in North America.
She was promoted to vice president Eastern Pipeline Engineering & Construction in November 2014, overseeing Dominion Energy’s Gas Transmission Engineering and Construction organization. Her leadership guided technical services and capital construction, supporting the growth and maintenance of gas transmission pipelines and storage assets along the East Coast during a period of transition for natural gas infrastructure. She later became vice president of Western Pipeline Operations in October 2019, leading the team providing natural gas transportation and underground storage services in Utah, Wyoming and Colorado.
In November 2020, she joined BHE GT&S as VP Administrative Services responsible for HR, IT, Supply Chain Fleet and Facility services, as well as leading Business Transformation efforts for BHE GT&S. She now also serves as part of the broader Berkshire Hathaway Energy business transformation leadership team.
She has served on Christopher Newport University Business School’s Board of Advisors, the Southern Gas Association Executive Council and the Utah Community Investment Board. She has previously chaired the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America’s Pipeline Safety Committee and Underground Storage Committee. Currently, she is Chair of the FIRST Robotics Chesapeake board of directors for VA/MD/DC and Chair of the Southern Gas Association Board of Directors.
Neller earned her bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Virginia Tech and her MBA from the College of William and Mary.
Helen Wesley
Helen Wesley is President and CEO of Peoples Gas, where she leads a diverse team responsible for the safe and reliable delivery of natural gas to nearly 470,000 homes and businesses across Florida. With a keen focus on the state’s clean energy future, Wesley is positioning Peoples Gas as a leader in sustainable energy solutions through investments in emerging fuels such as renewable natural gas.
Wesley joined Peoples Gas in 2020 as Chief Operating Officer. Prior to Peoples Gas, Wesley was with ENMAX Corporation, where she served as Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President of Finance and Information Technology. As a result of a diverse career, she has more than 30 years of experience in various forms of energy — regulated and unregulated generation and transmission and distribution, upstream and downstream oil and gas, and commodity chemicals and pipelines. She has worked throughout North America as well as internationally in a variety of senior strategic and operational leadership positions. Wesley was a director with a public, global midstream gas processing company for nine years.
Throughout her career she also has been involved in community not-for-profit organizations. Now, she participates in the Tampa Bay Partnership, is a member of CEOs Against Cancer and Leadership Florida Executive Class 12, and sits on the board of directors for the Southern Gas Association and the board of trustees for the University of Tampa.
Wesley earned her Bachelor of Commerce in Marketing from the University of Calgary, and her Master of Business Administration in International Business from Bentley University in Boston. She also holds a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation and a Directors Designation from the Institute of Corporate Directors.
Shawn Patterson
Director since 2022
Shawn L. Patterson became President & Chief Executive Officer of Southern Star Central Gas Pipeline in 2022; he started with Southern Star in 2017. Prior to joining Southern Star, Mr. Patterson was the Senior Vice President of Operations at TransCanada Pipeline USA Ltd. He also held the previous roles of Chief Operating Officer & Executive Vice President at Columbia Pipeline Group, Inc. and General Manager for Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania and Maryland.
Mr. Patterson began his career in the industry in 1995 with a passion for building strong teams, safety culture, growth platforms and optimizing organizations’ capabilities. He is a driven executive leader and takes pride in team success. Mr. Patterson has been recognized by industry associates for his innovative approach to business solutions.
Mr. Patterson received his undergraduate degree from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology and an MBA from the University of Notre Dame. He serves on the boards of ONE Future, the Southern Gas Association, the Greater Owensboro Chamber of Commerce, and the Regional Water Resource Agency (Wastewater Services for Owensboro & Daviess County, KY).
Blue Jenkins
Donald “Blue” Jenkins is AltaGas’ Executive Vice President & President, Utilities and President of Washington Gas. In this role, Mr. Jenkins oversees the development and execution of AltaGas’ strategic plan and advances the strategy of implementing an operational excellence model across its U.S. Utilities.
Mr. Jenkins is a seasoned executive with more than two decades of experience in all facets of the energy industry. With senior leadership roles in commercial strategy, business development, trading, information technology and safety, he brings a comprehensive understanding of the energy value chain across the utilities and midstream sectors. A results-oriented leader with a proven track record of driving transformation and building high-performance organizational cultures, Mr. Jenkins is also a champion of diversity and safety leadership.
Prior to AltaGas, he served as Chief Commercial Officer at EQT Corporation, and he held multiple executive roles at BP, including serving as Senior Vice President, North America Gas and Power, and was a key member of BP’s U.S. leadership team.
While at EQT Corporation, he successfully championed the negotiation of a $3.5 billion joint venture for Mountain Valley Pipeline, assisted with the company’s $7 billion acquisition of Rice Energy and was the driving force behind EQT’s increased bottom line.
He holds a Master of Business Administration degree from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Brigham Young University.
Scott Hallam
Scott Hallam joined Boardwalk as President and Chief Operating Officer in September 2023, bringing with him over two decades of upstream, midstream and downstream experience in the natural gas industry. He has previously held various senior vice president and vice president roles in Operations, Commercial, Engineering, Construction, Environmental and Safety. He currently serves on the Southern Gas Association Board of Directors and is the Executive Board chair from June 2023 through December 2024. Scott also serves on the Board of Trustees of the United Way of Greater Houston and on the Board of Directors of The Santiago Partnership.
