Frankie McDermott serves as SMUD’s Chief Operating Officer, providing strategic leadership and tactical oversight of the safe and reliable delivery of energy to California’s capital region. In this role, McDermott is responsible for the safety, reliability and operations of the transmission and distribution systems, delivery of energy to customers and construction and maintenance of SMUD’s grid. His responsibilities also include employee and public safety, operational efficiency and all nontechnology capital investments.
McDermott has served in a variety of executive and senior leadership roles since joining SMUD in 2003, including Chief Energy Delivery Officer, Chief Customer Officer, Senior Director of Customer Services, Director of Enterprise Performance and Director of General Services and Supply Chain.

Before joining SMUD, McDermott held management roles in the semiconductor industry at NEC Electronics in Roseville, California and in Ireland.

After engineering school in Ireland, he earned an MBA from Golden Gate University and completed the Berkeley Advanced Management Program at the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley.

McDermott is actively involved in the utility industry and Sacramento community, serving on the Board of Trustees of the Northwest Public Power Association, as a member of the Large Public Power Operations Executive Working Group (LPPC OEWG) and as a past Board member of the National Hydropower Association. Locally, McDermott serves on the Board of the Northern California World Trade Center and the Downtown Sacramento Partnership. He is currently president of the executive leadership team for the American Heart Association and is past Board Chair of the March of Dimes (Sacramento market). He also served for 7 years on the Board of the Sacramento Ballet. He’s also a Senior Fellow of the American Leadership Forum.