El Paso Electric Company appointed Edward Escudero as the chairman of the El Paso Electric board of directors, which helps oversee the privately owned company's operations. Escudero replaces Frank Cassidy, a retired electric and natural gas utility executive who became board chairman when EPE was bought by the JPMorgan Chase-tied Infrastructure Investments Fund, or IIF, in July 2020 for $4.3 billion. Cassidy, who lives in South Carolina, retired from the EPE board.

Escudero, 53, operates his own company, High Desert Capital, which provides financing for small and mid-sized businesses. He's an El Paso native with an accounting degree from the University of Texas at El Paso. He's been on the EPE board for 11 years and was on it when board members unanimously voted in June 2019 to sell the company to IIF.

The company's public shareholders in September 2019 approved the deal, which also had to be approved by government regulators. He was appointed board vice chair, a new board position, in July 2022, company information shows.