John Bryson, former chairman and chief executive officer of Edison International (1990-2008), the parent company of Southern California Edison, has been reelected as a trustee of the California Institute of Technology.
Bryson served on the Caltech Board of Trustees for six years before resigning in 2011 when the United States Senate confirmed his appointment as secretary of the Department of Commerce. Upon the conclusion of his service as commerce secretary, Bryson returned to Southern California and was reelected as a member of the Caltech board on July 25, 2013.
As commerce secretary, Bryson was tasked by President Obama with accelerating job creation and strengthening the economic recovery, and specifically with leading Obama's National Export Initiative. As co-chair of the White House Office of Manufacturing Policy, Bryson worked to develop the advanced manufacturing sector in the United States. Bryson is now a Distinguished Senior Public Policy Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C.
Educated at Stanford University and Yale Law School, Bryson has served on the board of directors of the Boeing Company and the Walt Disney Company, and as a member of the Stanford University Board of Trustees. He has also chaired the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC), the Pacific Council on International Policy (PCIP), and BrightSource Energy, and served as senior adviser to the global investment firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR). He is currently serving on the board of directors of the W. M. Keck Foundation and as senior adviser to the Angeleno Group.
Before he began his career at Edison, Bryson served as chairman of the California State Water Resources Control Board and as president of the California Public Utilities Commission. He was cofounder and attorney for the National Resources Defense Council, which the New York Times calls "one of the nation's most powerful environmental groups."
The Board of Trustees is the governing body of Caltech. The board is led by David L. Lee, chair, and vice chair Ronald K. Linde, and is currently comprised of 40 trustees, 18 senior trustees, 23 life members, and one honorary life member.
Written by Cynthia Eller