People

Staff

Interim Executive Director

Michael Larson

Michael Larson joined CUB of Michigan's Board in October 2024 and has more than a decade of experience in the clean energy and sustainability industry. He currently serves as the Assistant Director of Michigan Energy Options and on the Marquette City Commission.

Additionally, he serves on the Board of Directors for Michigan Saves, the nation’s first nonprofit green bank, and is a member of the Sault Ste Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians. Michael earned a Master of Public Administration from Northern Michigan University in 2009. He lives in Marquette, Michigan.

Assistant Director

Chris Trubac

Chris Trubac started working with the Citizens Utility Board of Michigan in January of 2025. His work is driven by a desire to support Michigan families strained by adverse market dynamics. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Natural Resources Conservation from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Prior to working with CUB, Chris served for eight years as a legislative aide in the Michigan House of Representatives. As a member office staffer, he was proud to support the policy agendas of legislators engaged in energy, telecommunications and consumer protection issues. Chris has also been elected to serve as an Ingham County Commissioner since 2018. He is a founding member and chairperson of the county’s Environmental Affairs Commission. He has also served as the chairperson of the county’s Human Services Committee.

Chris was born and raised in the Lansing area and resides with his family in Holt. In his free time, he enjoys digital photography and visiting the beaches of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

Senior Advisor

Amy Bandyk

Amy Bandyk served as the Executive Director of the Citizens Utility Board (CUB) of Michigan from 2018 to 2026. She continues to support the organization in operations and development as Senior Advisor.

Bandyk was born and raised in Michigan and moved to Washington, D.C. shortly after graduating from Michigan State University with high honors and a B.A. in communication. There, she joined a strategic communications firm where she worked for government, non-profit, trade association and corporate clients on many different issues affecting consumers. She then went to work for a telecommunications trade association as the Director of Advocacy Communications. She earned her M.A. in communication from Johns Hopkins University in 2013. She then became the executive director of an animal rescue non-profit organization where she had previously volunteered, served on the Board of Directors and adopted her beloved dogs. After moving home to Michigan, she was a consultant to a consumer group advocating for residential utility ratepayers in the Upper Peninsula until CUB of MI was formed and launched. She and her family live in Royal Oak.

Board of Directors

President

Kelly Jo Kitchen

Kelly Jo Kitchen is a passionate advocate for people. She is a board member and past president of the Global Institute of Lansing, a nonprofit whose mission is to assist aged out of high school refugees acquire a high school diploma. Kelly is a retired teacher with over 32 years' experience. She began her educational career in speech pathology and taught math and science the last 20 years of her tenure. Kelly has volunteered in her communities; coaching, managing community gardens, working in festivals, assisting environmental nonprofits and tutoring.

Kelly Jo Kitchen earned a bachelor’s degree in audiology and speech sciences and a master’s degree in speech pathology with a minor in physical science from Michigan State University. Ms. Kitchen earned her Juris Doctorate from Thomas Cooley Law School and is a licensed attorney in the State of Michigan.

Kelly has been a volunteer attorney for Michigan Immigrant Rights Center and Lighthouse Immigrant Advocates gathering information from detained undocumented persons and assisting with asylum paperwork for Afghan refugees.

Kelly was president of Citizens Against Rate Excess from 2009 – 2016. Kelly then became the Assistant to the Board of the Utility Consumer Participation Board from 2016 – 2021. She has attended Michigan State University Institute of Public Utilities Regulatory Program and enjoys learning about and advocating for advanced energy technologies.

Kelly currently resides in Northern Michigan and volunteers on a regular basis for the Little Traverse Conservancy, the Tip of the Mitt Watershed Council as well as Northwest Michigan Habitat for Humanity.

Kelly joined the CUB Board in 2023.

General Counsel & Treasurer

John Liskey

John R. Liskey is the co-founder, treasurer and general counsel of Citizens Utility Board of Michigan. Previously he founded the Citizens Against Rate Excess nonprofit Michigan corporation founded in 2009 to fight utility rate increases in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Prior to that Mr. Liskey served as an Assistant Attorney General in the utility law section of Michigan’s Attorney General’s office where he was recognized for his multi-state consumer advocacy work before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Mr. Liskey also has many years of experience in the private sector specializing in cable telecommunications management, law and government affairs serving as a President of a leading-edge Lansing, Michigan based wireless ISP company and as a Vice President of Government Relations for AT&T Broadband. During this period of time Liskey received recognition for pioneering the first-in-the-country launch of commercial high-speed cable modem service in East Lansing, Michigan in 1994.

Mr. Liskey has been active in community affairs and was a Red Cross volunteer during Hurricane Katrina and Rita in 2005. He graduated from James Madison College at Michigan State University in 1972 and the Thomas M. Cooley Law School in 1980. Mr. Liskey is active in community theatre and is an avid supporter of Michigan State University sports.

Past Presidents

Robert Nelson

Robert Nelson served as CUB’s first President from 2018 – 2021 and director from 2021 to 2024.Mr. Nelson served as a Commissioner on the Michigan Public Service Commission from 1999 to 2005.

Keith Cooley

Keith Cooley previously served as CUB’s President.

Keith Cooley is a management consultant intent on linking America’s recovery to a “Green Collar” Agenda… one that develops cutting-edge technology to combat issues of environmental crises, then training underserved communities as the next generation of technologists in support of these sectors.

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