Hawaiian Electric Co. said yesterday it has hired Richard Rosenblum as president and chief executive to replace T. Michael May, who retired in August.

Rosenblum, 58, has 32 years of experience in utility operations at Southern California Edison, California's largest electric utility. Most recently, he served as senior vice president of generation, responsible for the utility's power generation facilities, where he helped initiate the nation's largest solar photovoltaic project. He will start at HECO Jan. 1.

Rosenblum and his wife Michele have been part-time residents of Hawaii for more than 20 years, with a home on the Big Island.

“;This is a pivotal time for the energy industry, especially in Hawaii,”; Rosenblum said in a statement. “;Having been blessed to spend quite a bit of time here over the past 20 years, I appreciate that Hawaii is a unique and special place and that it is important to find solutions that are right for the islands.”;

May, 61, served as president, CEO and a member of the company's board for more than 13 years. He joined HECO in 1992 as senior vice president, and became president and CEO in 1995. He announced in June that he would step down from the top post.

According to the most recent proxy filing by parent company Hawaiian Electric Industries Inc., May had a base salary of $590,650 in 2007, which after stock and option awards and all other compensation totaled $1.16 million. No compensation package for Rosenblum was disclosed yesterday.

Rosenblum had also served for more than seven years as senior vice president of Southern California Edison's transmission and distribution business unit, responsible for the delivery of electricity in the utility's 50,000-square-mile service territory. He also held the positions of vice president of engineering and technical services and vice president of SCE's distribution business unit.

He has a background in nuclear generation, previously holding management positions at the utility's San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station and serving as chief nuclear officer for the company. Rosenblum earned bachelor's and master's degrees in nuclear engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.