Commissioner Upendra Chivukula

Upendra J. Chivukula was nominated by Governor Christopher J. Christie as a Commissioner to the N.J. Board of Public Utilities on September 18, 2014 and confirmed by the Senate on September 22, 2014

Prior to his nomination, Mr. Chivukula served in the New Jersey Assembly representing the 17th legislative district, where he served as chair of the Assembly Telecommunications and Utilities Committee. He also had the honor of serving as Vice Chair of Homeland Security and State Preparedness, Commerce and Economic Development, and Environment and Solid Waste. Mr. Chivukula was also a founding member and Co-Chair of the NJ Science & Technology Legislative Caucus and the NJ World Languages & International Studies Legislative Caucus. He was a member of the Commission on Science and Technology, and the Health Information Technology Commissions.

Before becoming a state legislator, Mr. Chivukula served as Mayor of Franklin Township for a year and on Town Council for another seven years. He also served on the National Council of State Legislatures and on the Council of State Governments.

Earlier in his career, Mr. Chivukula worked as an engineer for AT&T and as a project engineer for Leeds & Northrup building waste treatment plant control. He currently serves on the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners’ (NARUC) Telecommunications Committee and is a member of the Mid-Atlantic Conference of Regulatory Utilities Commissioners (MACRUC). In 2015 he was appointed to the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council (CSRIC) as well as NARUC’s Telecommunications Act Modernization (TeAM) Task Force.

Mr. Chivukula received a Bachelor of Engineering Degree in Electrical Engineering from College of Engineering, Chennai, India, and Master of Engineering Degree in Electrical Engineering from City College, New York, and took graduate courses in Electrical Engineering at Rutgers University.