Local Civic Leaders Zaldwaynaka “Z” Scott and Smita Shah Named to ComEd Board of Directors

ComEd today announced the appointments of Zaldwaynaka "Z" Scott, 63, president of Chicago State University, and Smita Shah, 48, CEO of SPAAN Tech, Inc., to its board as independent directors. They join Metropolitan Family Services President and CEO Ricardo “Ric” Estrada, who was named to the board in November 2021.

“Z and Smita are distinguished business and civic leaders from our community and have proven track records of innovation and leadership experience. We are pleased to welcome them to the ComEd board,” said Gil Quiniones, ComEd CEO. “Their respective expertise, combined with their shared passion for closing the opportunity gap for women and minorities, will serve the company well as we continue to work to create an equitable clean energy future for all communities.”

As president of Chicago State University, Scott has overseen the development and advancement of its strategic plan for 2020 to 2025 to ensure the institution leads with the mission of transforming students’ lives through innovation and excellence in ethical leadership.

Scott is also a well-known advocate for equity in higher education. She formed and co-chairs the Equity Working Group, a body of leaders from across the education, public, private, philanthropic, and community development sectors to address Black student access and success in Illinois higher education.

“I’m honored to join ComEd’s board of directors and advance its values of integrity, forward thinking, openness to ideas and principled decision-making,” said Scott. “I’m excited to support ComEd’s important work to build a cleaner and brighter future for communities across Chicagoland and northern Illinois.”

Scott serves on the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago board of directors where she also sits on the board’s Audit and Compliance and the Nominating and Governance Committee. In addition, she serves on the board of trustees for the John H. Shedd Aquarium and the United States Coast Guard Academy. Scott is also a member of The Chicago Network where she chairs the Government Committee.

Scott holds a J.D. from Indiana University Maurer School of Law and a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana.

Shah founded and has served as CEO of SPAAN Tech, a public and private infrastructure firm, since 1998. The firm oversees the planning, design, and implementation of transportation, aviation, and telecommunications infrastructure systems. She has personally been engaged on projects ranging from negotiating a power project in India to 5G implementation management for Chicago, to the O’Hare modernization program.

Shah serves on the board of the MacLean Fogg Company, and previously served as Vice Chairman of the Chicago Plan Commission for 12 years. She is a member of M.I.T.’s Visiting Committee for Civil and Environmental Engineering, co-chair of the Loyola University of Chicago Council of Regents, and a trustee of the Lincoln Academy of Illinois. Passionate about children, she serves as a trustee of the Museum of Science and Industry, and as an advisor at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. President Biden recently appointed Shah to his Advisory Commission on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders.

“I’m proud to be part of such a committed and engaged civic community here in Chicago and am humbled to serve on ComEd’s board alongside so many of our city’s strategic leaders,” said Shah. “Serving the community and being at the forefront of our region’s clean energy future go hand in hand, and I’m looking forward to joining ComEd’s efforts in this work.”

Shah earned her bachelor's degree from Northwestern University, master's degree from The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and postgraduate certificate in management studies from Oxford University.

ComEd is a unit of Chicago-based Exelon Corporation (NASDAQ: EXC), a Fortune 200 energy company with approximately 10 million electricity and natural gas customers – the largest number of customers in the U.S. ComEd powers the lives of more than 4 million customers across northern Illinois, or 70 percent of the state’s population. For more information visit ComEd.com and connect with the company on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

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