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Julie Mayo’s coming aboard as SVP and chief legal officer at Sempra Infrastructure mirrors a moment of rapid transformation for both her employer and the broader energy sector. With Sempra Infrastructure at the center of two multibillion-dollar transactions, including a $10 billion sale of Sempra’s 45 percent stake to KKR and partners, and advancing the $1 billion Port Arthur LNG Phase 2 project, Mayo finds herself at the legal helm of a business in a pivotal moment.
It was a fast-paced and eventful September for Mayo and her team.. The two announcements were made on the same day, with the combined transactions positioning the company for aggressive growth. But from a wider lens view, it’s really just another win for Mayo in a relatively short tenure at the company. While the attorney had been an outside partner for the organization, she only came in-house in early 2024 to build out the legal function into one capable of supporting the company’s expected growth.
“Over the past eighteen months, we’ve been on a journey to strengthen and evolve our legal division,” Mayo explains. “That momentum is only building—and I expect even greater progress in the year ahead. It’s been incredibly rewarding to establish a fully functional, fit-for-purpose legal team at Sempra Infrastructure.”
Vince Morgan, a longtime colleague and shareholder at Winstead PC, says of Mayo’s work: “Julie’s recognition is a testament to her ability to navigate complex challenges with clarity and confidence. It’s been a privilege to support her work and see the impact of her leadership across the industry.”
Historically, Sempra Infrastructure’s parent company was the only one tapped for select legal services. Now, with an anticipated new ownership structure, the legal, risk, and compliance teams will be shouldering additional responsibilities, driving change, and continuing to integrate themselves throughout the company’s business lines.
Sempra Infrastructure’s CLO describes herself as an unconventional fit for the role—and that’s part of what makes her leadership so impressive.
“There’s really nothing in my background that would indicate that this is where I should have ended up,” Mayo says, laughing. It’s a humble statement for a person who has racked up awards for her practice, leadership and industry expertise.
As a student, Mayo studied anthropology and lived in rural Kenya and Tanzania in college before pursuing a Master of Public Health at Emory University. She pursued law school to help shape policies that, in her experience, often failed to serve the people they were meant to support.
“I went to law school thinking I would never actually take the bar,” Mayo says. “I just wanted to gain that ability to think like a lawyer to pair with my understanding of public health and how positive change could be made.”
In the meantime, Mayo started her legal career working at a boutique environmental and public utilities law firm at a critical inflection point, the deregulation of the electric industry in Texas. It was an introduction to the energy industry that would set Mayo on her path.
Outside of Julie Mayo’s day-to-day, she says work-life balance is a lived philosophy, not a buzzword, at Sempra Infrastructure. The CLO says her family anchors her professional motivation, and she makes time for travel as much as possible. She’s visited fifty countries thus far, and her family will be visiting the Antarctic continent for New Year’s 2026.
The CLO says she’s still grateful for her cultural anthropology background. It’s helped her build a more globally minded approach to the people she serves. She’s seen first-hand what the impact of what natural gas can mean to groups facing energy poverty.
Coming in-house was a surprise for the Baker Botts partner and previous leader of the US Oil & Gas practice at Norton Rose Fulbright. Had it been any other client, Mayo says she probably wouldn’t have accepted the job at that time.
“Sometimes it’s just the right time, the right opportunity, and the right people,” Mayo says. “I have loved getting this corporate experience and building this law department. Despite how much of a trusted advisor I felt like as outside counsel, it’s something else entirely where you’re on the inside.”
At present, Mayo’s team numbers around 120, with mandates spanning compliance, risk, regulatory, information management, and corporate governance. In building out the legal function, Mayo’s philosophy has been to hire for curiosity, expertise, and breadth of interest. According to Mayo, the technical parts of the job can be taught if supplemented with the kind of personality that is keen to grow and evolve.
Mayo says the expansive project portfolio and global energy trends will test the structure and agility of the legal department she’s been studiously building. But that’s exactly the point; she came on board to build a team that expands right along with the business. Mayo is a key contributor to Sempra Infrastructure’s next chapter of growth. And while she may still be surprised at where she wound up, it is no surprise that she’s at the top of her game.
