What was your route to the top? I am proud to be a native of Arkansas and was raised to be a leader. I was Senior Class President at Little Rock Central High School and president of our school's chapter of Future Business Leaders of America. After law school, I worked as a staff attorney for the Center for Legal Services, a law clerk at the Arkansas Court of Appeals, and also served as an assistant public defender in Jefferson County, before joining the Arkansas Attorney General's Office. Then, I was tapped to serve as Chief of Staff for Attorney General Mike Beebe, who went on to become governor. He asked me to serve in his cabinet as executive director of the Arkansas Workforce Investment Board. In October 2007, Beebe appointed me to a vacant seat on the Arkansas Public Service Commission, of which I served as Chairman from January 2011-January 2015. During this time, I also served the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, including one term as president. In August 2014, I was then nominated by President Barack Obama to serve as commissioner at the FERC, and I was unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate in December 2014 for serve from January 2015-June 2017. Today, in addition to co-leading Reed Smith's regulatory offering, I am a nonresident senior fellow of the Cross-Brookings Initiative on Energy and Climate, and a senior fellow with the Bipartisan Policy Center, where I am a member of the Global Advisory Board for the Energy Futures Initiative. I am an ambassador for the Clean Energy Education and Empowerment Initiative, an effort co-led by the U.S. Department of Energy and the MIT Energy Initiative formed under the auspices of the International Clean Energy Ministerial, among other affiliations. I have continued my support of the Electric Power Research Institute, currently serving on its Board of Directors.

What is the best leadership advice you provided, or received, and why do you think it was effective? Believe in yourself, be willing to learn, and be open to criticism. Leaders must possess confidence; executive presence; be decisive. Leaders must be perpetual students and listeners rather than the ones constantly speaking. Effective leaders must stay humble and be open to continuous improvement.

Looking back, what do you wish you had known when you started out in the legal profession? Today, we are in the midst of a great movement and a new period of enlightenment. However, in order to make progress as a people, we must seize the moment to heighten the consciousness of our colleagues, and for all of us to be educated about what is accepted in the workplace and the world.

What is the most valuable career advice anyone has ever given you? To always use my words to uplift others—not to tear them down. I've also been taught to not be intimidated by the accomplishments of others, but to use them as motivation to attain higher goals. And don't burn down bridges—you may have to cross them again someday.