Ball leaves Austin Energy for El Paso Electric

Elaina Ball, who served as Austin Energy’s deputy general manager and chief operating officer starting in October 2016, has become chief administrative officer for El Paso Electric. With Ball’s departure, AE General Manager Jackie Sargent appointed Mark Dombroski as acting chief operating officer. Dombroski has been serving as deputy general manager and chief financial and risk officer at AE. El Paso Electric, an investor-owned utility, has been in business since 1901. According to the company’s website, El Paso Electric serves about 417,000 customers spread out over a 10,000-square-mile area from Van Horn, Texas, to Hatch, New Mexico. Austin Energy has about 448,000 customers, but they are confined to a much smaller geographic area. “It was really tough to leave Jackie and the Austin Energy team, but this is going to move me closer to family and will give me new experience,” Ball told the Austin Monitor. She said she is “thrilled and excited” to be in her new job, which started this week, although she will miss Austin. Before arriving at Austin Energy in 2012, Ball worked at CPS Energy in San Antonio.