Charles Berardesco

Charles A. Berardesco recently retired as senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary of the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, or NERC, which is a not-for-profit international regulatory authority whose mission is to assure the reliability of the bulk power system in North America.  He had primary executive responsibility for legal and regulatory affairs, compliance enforcement and internal audit.  Prior to joining NERC, Berardesco was senior vice president, general counsel, corporate secretary and chief compliance officer of Constellation Energy, a Fortune 200 energy company.  

Before joining Constellation Energy, Berardesco served as vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary of Fusura, a consortium of AIG, Prudential and Kemper, and senior vice president, general counsel & corporate secretary of HCIA, a publicly held health care information company.  He was counsel with Piper Rudnick (now DLA Piper), where he focused on corporate finance and mergers and acquisitions, and a partner at Whiteford, Taylor & Preston, where he chaired the firm’s corporate department and served as a member of its executive committee. 

Berardesco received his JD, with high honors, in 1983 from The George Washington University, where he was the managing editor of The George Washington Law Review, and his AB, magna cum laude, in 1980 from Duke University. He is active in a number of charitable and membership organizations, including serving as the chair of the board of the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, chair of the board of advisors of the Duke University Chapel, president of the Presbyterian Home of Maryland, chair of the board of the Woodbourne Center, a member of the board of advisors of The George Washington University Law School, and Preident of the University Club of Washington, DC.  He has also served as a member of the Business Council of the Human Rights Campaign. 

Mr. Berardesco has been named as one of the top 10 “GC’s to Watch” by Corporate Board Magazine and while he was general counsel Constellation Energy was named as having the corporate governance team of the year by Corporate Secretary Magazine.  He has been awarded the Out and Proud Corporate Counsel award by the National LGBT Bar Association and was named a Leader in the Law by the Maryland Daily Record.