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Sempra finds its Knight to lead global PR efforts: top chamber executive assuming different role at energy conglomerate.

Article Excerpt
Jessie J. Knight Jr. doesn't consider himself to be a PR man.

"I'm not a spin doctor kind of guy," said the man who's headed the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce as its president and chief executive officer for seven years, and is credited as its savior. "I am a business strategist more than anything."

Knight, 55, is leaving July 31 to become executive vice president of external affairs for locally based Sempra Energy, parent of San Diego Gas & Electric Co.

He will be no mere image polisher in his new position, according to his soon-to-be new boss, Donald Felsinger, Sempra chairman, president and chief executive officer. Knight has been charged with playing a key role at the company that had 2005 net income of $920 million on sales of $11.7 billion. Its territory encompasses 29 million customers in the United States, Europe, Canada, Mexico, South America and Asia.

But image remains a concern. Sempra's reputation was tarnished following the state energy crisis in 2000 and 2001. Most recently, SDG&E has taken some heat from environmentalists about a proposed high-voltage transmission line between the Imperial Valley and San Diego.

"Sempra has struggled with that to some degree," he said. "Sempra doesn't have a face in the community as much as it should, and lines get blurred in people's minds."

Knight's predecessor at the chamber, Ben...