The Citizens Utility Board of Michigan (CUB of MI) was formed in 2018 to represent the interests of residential energy customers across the state of Michigan. CUB of MI educates and engages Michigan consumers in support of cost-effective investment in energy efficiency and renewable energy and against unfair rate increase requests.
CUB of MI helps to ensure that Michiganders pay the lowest reasonable rate for utility services and also benefit from the environmental implications of investment in clean energy. CUB of MI is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization whose members are individual residential customers of Michigan’s energy utilities.
We receive philanthropic support, funding from the State of Michigan's Utility Consumer Representation Fund and rely on tax-deductible individual donations to support our work.
Our Team
Amy Bandyk
Executive Director
Amy Bandyk serves as the Executive Director of the Citizens Utility Board (CUB) of Michigan. She joined CUB of MI at its inception in 2018 and is passionate about energy affordability and supporting the transition to clean, renewable energy for her family and fellow Michigan residents.
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.
Bandyk and her husband moved back home to Michigan and welcomed their first child in 2017. 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. She enjoys exploring local parks and restaurants, getting out on the lakes in the summer, traveling to new places and visiting with old friends.
Board of Directors
Keith Cooley
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.
His present work for MIT’s Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research looks at the impact of deep decarbonization on the motor vehicle industry, African American workers, and associated low-income communities as the country migrates from its present fossil fuel-intensive ecosystem.
Equally comfortable working with clients across the political spectrum, Keith served as a cabinet member to (then) Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm, advised French Presidential candidate François Hollande on future energy trends and hosted Vice President Biden’s 2008 Michigan clean energy award announcement. He was also chosen in 2006 by the Bush (43) Administration to visit U.S. troops deployed in the Middle East.
His climate policy work on the damaging health effects of burning coal and corn ethanol’s link to harmful algal blooms, led Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer to include him on the State’s Advisory Council for Environmental Justice.
Keith is a member of the Engineering Society of Detroit’s College of Fellows; was named a Tau Beta Pi Eminent Engineer and received the Apollo Alliance “Right Stuff” Award for work that “exemplifies the organization’s clean energy, good jobs mission”.
He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering Physics and a Master of Science degree in Nuclear Engineering from the University of Michigan. While there, he was a gymnast; the first African-American to compete in that sport at the school and was a member of its 1966 Big Ten Championship team.
Keith served as CUB's Vice President from 2018 - 2021.
On a personal note, Keith is married, lives in Detroit, Mich. and has four children and eight grandchildren. He enjoys reading, running, biking, and Tai Chi.
John Liskey
General Counsel & Treasurer
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.
Kelly Jo Kitchen
Vice President
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.
Charlotte Jameson
Director
Charlotte Jameson is the Energy Policy and Legislative Affairs Director for the Michigan Environmental Council. She has extensive experience in politics, environmental policy and issue advocacy. Charlotte received her undergraduate degree in political science from the University of Chicago and her master's degree from the University of Michigan School of Natural Resources and the Environment. Charlotte got her start in politics working for Planned Parenthood Action Fund in Washington, DC and then later in a research and policy role with Obama for America during the 2012 presidential campaign. Prior to joining Michigan Environmental Council, Charlotte was the Government Affairs Director for Michigan League of Conservation Voters. Charlotte grew up in Durham, North Carolina and she still occasionally pines for warm weather and southern food. She currently resides in Ann Arbor, Michigan with her two dogs.
Robert Nelson
Director
Robert Nelson is currently the President of Capital Area Community Services and the Michigan Charitable Gaming Association. He served as CUB's first President from 2018 - 2021. He has been a Board member of the Lansing Kiwanis Club and a past Lieutenant Governor of Michigan Kiwanis. He was a member of the Lansing Board of Water and Light from 2015 to 2017. Mr. Nelson served as a Commissioner on the Michigan Public Service Commission from 1999 to 2005. Following that, he was of counsel with Fraser Trenilcock until 2011. After that, he was an independent consultant for three years. He was a member of the Michigan ACLU board and President of the Lansing chapter.
Mr. Nelson served as President of the Michigan Electric and Gas Association from December 1987 until his appointment to the MPSC in 1999. From 1979 to 1987, he was Director of the Office of Regulatory and Consumer Affairs, overseeing the legislative, legal, public affairs and consumer services functions of the MPSC. From 1976 to 1979, he served as both Assistant and Deputy Director of Policy at the MPSC. From 1974 to 1976, he was an Assistant and, later, Senior Assistant Prosecutor for Ingham County. From 1970 to 1974, he was a trial attorney for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Mr. Nelson served on the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners' Consumer Affairs Committee and the Telecommunications Committee, of which he was the chairman. He served on the Advisory Council for the Center for Public Utilities at New Mexico State University.
Mr. Nelson was a member of the North American Numbering Council, an advisory committee to the FCC on numbering issues, and a member of the Universal Services Joint Board. He previously served as chairman of the Administrative Law Section of the Michigan Bar Association. He has also served as Chairman of the East Lansing Cable and Telecommunications Commission. Mr. Nelson received a B.A. in Political Science from Wayne State University (1968), and a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School (1970).
Bob served as CUB's President from 2018 - 2021.