Melissa Lauderdale-Ward is an experienced leader with over 20 years of experience with energy companies. She brings experience in legal operations, policy advocacy to support business growth, compliance programs for regulated industries, legal support for competitive energy companies, and employee development. Melissa currently serves as Chief of Staff to Thomas O’Neill, Exelon’s General Counsel and Director of Legal Operations. In that role she leads the operational side of the Exelon Legal Department where she has overseen an organizational assessment, streamlined processes, upgraded technology, and increased focus on talent development. In her prior role, Melissa served as Assistant General Counsel at Constellation. Melissa led a team that provides regulatory and compliance support to Constellation’s electricity, natural gas, distributed energy, natural gas and energy efficiency businesses. This included maintaining all licenses and making hundreds of compliance filings as well as counseling her clients on compliance matters, advocating for regulatory policy to support business needs, and supporting strategic transactions. Prior to joining Exelon, Melissa worked for Integrys Energy Services, a retail energy supplier, where she had responsibility for state and federal government and regulatory affairs, compliance, and utility contracts. Her team delivered policy improvements that millions of dollars in O&M reductions and business opportunities. Melissa served as President of the Retail Energy Supplier Association (RESA). RESA is the main trade association for retail suppliers. In that role, she lead the Board of Directors, supervised the staff, developed policies and procedures, and spoke to the media. She has served on other trade association boards, and done extensive public speaking. She has also provided leadership for diversity efforts at both Constellation and Integrys. Melissa obtained her Bachelors of Arts from the Plan II Honors Program, Masters of Public Affairs and Juris Doctorate from the University of Texas at Austin. She also holds a Masters of Laws from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. She is a member of Texas and the District of Columbia Bar Associations. Melissa and her wife, C.J., have a 14-year-old son and they live in Pikesville, Maryland. Melissa is a member of the Maryland Youth Equality Alliance. Melissa uses she/her/hers pronouns.