El Paso Electric has hired Cheryl Mele and Rico Gonzales as regional vice presidents. Most recently, Mele worked as an independent consultant. Before that, she spent much of her career at Austin Energy, a municipally owned electric utility that serves the city of Austin. She is a Texas-registered professional engineer and has a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Union College in New York. Most recently, Gonzales was vice president of Strategies 360, a research, public affairs and communications firm that worked in the electric, higher education and medical industries. He worked at El Paso Electric for eight years as director of New Mexico and Arizona government affairs. He has a bachelor’s degree in history and a master’s degree in agriculture leadership and extension studies from New Mexico State University.