Jim Steffes is the Executive Vice President (EVP) of Corporate Affairs for Direct Energy and oversees corporate government and regulatory affairs, media relations, community relations and corporate responsibility.
Jim spent nearly a decade with Direct Energy prior to his previous positions as CEO of Circular Energy, an innovative solar and energy solutions firm, and NRG Energy as head of Green Mountain Energy. He brings more than 20 years of experience in the competitive energy industry, serving in various roles including business, operation, regulatory and public affairs functions at several retail energy and wholesale commodity firms.
While at Direct Energy, Jim ran the Texas Residential segment and transformed the trajectory of the business by implementing significant operational improvements, making key acquisitions – including First Choice Power – and launching novel products, including a prepaid electricity plan which leveraged Texas’ smart meter deployment and customers’ smart phones. Prior to the Texas Residential role, he led the Operations team, supporting more than 1.5 million customers in Texas and Alberta, Canada. The B2B commodity business in the Northeast US was also built during his tenure.
Jim holds a Master’s degree in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School and received a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University. He and his family reside in Houston, Texas.