Manu Asthana has nearly three decades of leadership experience across the energy sector, with deep expertise in electric and gas markets, grid operations, power generation and trading, risk management, and retail energy. He previously served as President and CEO of PJM Interconnection, the largest power grid operator in North America, and now serves as Senior Advisor to the PJM Board of Managers. He has also been appointed as an independent board member of Alliant Energy, effective February 23.
Before joining PJM Interconnection, Asthana served as President of Direct Energy’s residential energy and home services business across North America. Prior to that, he served in positions of increasing responsibility across retail energy, power generation, and trading at Direct Energy.
Prior to his tenure at Direct Energy, Asthana spent much of his career at TXU Corp. in a range of roles spanning trading, asset management and enterprise risk management, following his early career in trading at Swiss Bank Corporation. Asthana graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, where he was a Benjamin Franklin Scholar and a Joseph Wharton Scholar. He serves as a trustee of Texas Children’s Hospital, and previously served as a member of the National Infrastructure Advisory Council.
