Matthew Cordaro, a Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) Board of Trustee, former board member of the American Public Power Association and former CEO of Nashville Electric System, passed away on Friday, Feb. 19 at the age of 77.
From 1966 to 1988, Cordaro held a number of positions at the Long Island Lighting Co., an investor-owned utility purchased by LIPA in 1998.
From 1988 to 1993, he was senior vice-president of Long Lake Energy Corp. and President of Long Lake Cogeneration Corp.
From 1993 to 1999, he served as President and CEO of Nashville Electric Service and from 1999 to 2001 Cordaro was President and CEO of the Midwest Transmission System Operator.
He introduced public power utilities to membership in the Midwest ISO during his tenure as Midwest ISO CEO.
Cordaro served in a number of positions at Long Island University from 2001 to 2009 including Acting Dean of the College of Management at the C.W. Post Campus from 2006 to 2007.
From 2009 to 2010, he was Dean of the Towsend School of Business at Dowling College.
And starting in 2010, Cordaro served as Chairman of the LIPA Oversight Committee for the Suffolk County Legislature.
Cordaro served on the APPA Policy Makers Council during 2016 and received over 20 awards for public utility leadership in a number of areas.
He was active in APPA and Large Public Power Council (LPPC) activities during his tenure as the CEO of the Nashville Electric System from 1993-1999 and as CEO of the Midwest ISO from 1999-2001, including serving as a board member of APPA from 1995-1999, serving as an APPA representative on the Electric Power Research Institute’s board for three years 1996-1999, and serving as one of the original members of the LPPC for five years 1994-1999.
Cordaro attended APPA annual meetings consistently for over 20 years, presented speeches at APPA conferences on numerous occasions, and testified for the public power community, including APPA and LPPC, before Congressional committees.
Cordaro held a Ph.D. in Physics and Engineering from Cooper Union, an M.E. in Nuclear Engineering from New York University, a B.S. in Engineering Science from C. W. Post College and completed the Executive Management Program at the University of Michigan.
He was also an Atomic Energy Commission Fellow, a Guest Research Associate at the Brookhaven National Laboratory, and served as an adjunct faculty member at Polytechnic Institute of New York and C. W. Post College.
