Arizona Corporation Commission Chairman Doug Little is one of five state regulators nominated for Utility Dive's Policymaker of the Year award.

Utility Dive is an online publication featuring news about the electric power industry and its associated companies.

Little is considered a thought leader in the areas of integrated resource planning and regional energy markets in the western states. In the past two years he has led efforts to develop innovative rate design approaches and has proposed a major revamp of Arizona’s renewable energy standard.

“I think I would have been surprised if he had not been nominated,” Brad Ramsay, general counsel of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, said. “Chairman Little is a smart man and a quick study. Although he’s only been a commissioner for just under two years, he is already recognized nationally as an influential voice on high-profile energy and telecommunications policy issues that have been (and likely will continue to be) front and center both in Washington, D.C., and before most other state public service commissions. Plus, he’s a nice guy.”

Little previously spent more than 30 years in the computer software industry. He is a member of the NARUC electricity committee and is vice chairperson of the Western Energy Imbalance Market -- Body of State Regulators.