Janisse Quiñones, CEO and chief engineer of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, will step down from her position effective March 27 to help build Puerto Rico’s electric grid, officials announced Wednesday.
Quiñones, who was born and raised in Caguas, Puerto Rico, will return to that nation to take on a leadership role supporting the modernization and transformation of the island’s electric grid, Mayor Karen Bass’ office said in a statement Wednesday morning.
The mayor is expected to announce “details shortly” regarding interim leadership for the DWP.
“Janisse brought steady leadership and engineering expertise to LADWP during a critical period for our city,” Bass said in a statement. “Her focus on resilience, reliability, and strengthening the workforce has helped position the Department for continued progress. We thank her for her service to Los Angeles.”
In 2024, Bass nominated Quiñones, a longtime Pacific Gas and Electric executive, to succeed the previous general manager Martin Adams, who retired after many years of service to the city.
The City Council subsequently confirmed Quiñones as the DWP’s general manger with an annual salary of $750,000, nearly twice as much as her predecessor.
City officials had defended her salary, adding it was necessary to remain competitive with other private and public agencies.
Quiñones led the nation’s largest publicly owned water and power utility through a period of “operational focus, infrastructure modernization, and organizational strengthening — positioning LADWP to meet the evolving demands of climate change, wildfire risk, emergency management, system resilience and long-term reliability,” according to the mayor’s office.
“Serving the people of Los Angeles has been one of the greatest honors of my professional life,” Quiñones said in a statement.
“I am deeply grateful to Mayor Karen Bass and the city of Los Angeles for the trust placed in me to steward essential infrastructure that supports the health, safety and economic vitality of our communities. Los Angeles is a city defined by innovation, diversity, and resilience. It has been a privilege to serve a community that continually rises to meet its challenges,” Quiñones added.
She further expressed her appreciation for the DWP’s workforce of more than 12,000 employees.
Quiñones and the utility have been criticized for their response to the January 2025 Palisades Fire, including leaving a key water source empty in the area. The Santa Ynez Reservoir had been left empty for maintenance for nearly a year, which hampered firefighting efforts. Water hydrants were left depleted during the emergency as well, which officials attribute to the high demand for water.
The DWP launched an investigation into the empty reservoir and began enhanced efforts to protect infrastructure in Pacific Palisades during emergencies.