Rebecca Armendariz Klein has been tapped to fill the last vacant spot on the Texas Public Utilities Commission by Gov. Rick Perry. Armendariz Klein currently is a consultant with KPMG Consulting and served as general government policy director under George W. Bush when he was governor. She also has worked as a senior attorney for the Texas PUC and as a telecommunications law analyst for the American Enterprise Institute. Perry also announced that Mario Max Yzaguirre, named two weeks ago to the Texas PUC, will become the new chairman of the three-member panel.

Constellation Energy Group has appointed E. Follin Smith as senior vice president and CFO, replacing Dave Brune. Before joining Constellation, Smith had been senior vice president and CFO of Armstrong Holdings Inc. and before that had worked for General Motors. Brune has been promoted to vice president, general counsel and secretary for the new group. Constellation Energy recently said it would separate its wholesale merchant energy and retail businesses into two companies.

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