COLUMBUS, Ohio, June 22, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- American
Electric Power (Nasdaq: AEP) today announced several changes to
expand the skills and experience of the company's leadership team,
according to Nicholas K. Akins, AEP
chairman, president and chief executive officer. The changes are
effective July 31.
"Leadership development and succession planning are critically
important for the ongoing success of our culture and company. These
changes provide opportunities to expand the experience of this
talented team and will bring new insights and creativity to
strategic parts of the business. This is critical as we continue
our transformation to clean energy resources and investing in
smarter, more efficient infrastructure to enhance service for our
customers," Akins said.
As an element of the company's succession planning efforts,
Mark McCullough, executive vice
president – Energy Delivery, is retiring.
"I want to thank Mark for his 40 years of service and leadership
at AEP. He has spent his entire career working to enhance the
culture and effectiveness of AEP's generation and energy delivery
organizations. His many contributions include developing very
strong leadership teams to continue those efforts, and we wish him
all the best," Akins said.
Toby Thomas, currently president
and chief operating officer for Indiana Michigan Power, will move
to a new position as senior vice president – Energy Delivery.
Thomas will oversee distribution engineering and standards, and
transmission engineering, standards, construction, operations,
maintenance and compliance. He will report to Lisa Barton, executive vice president and chief
operating officer.
Raja Sundararajan, president and
chief operating officer for AEP Ohio, has been named to a new
position of senior vice president – Regulatory and Customer
Solutions with responsibility for AEP's regulatory and customer
service strategies. Sundararajan will report to Charles Patton, executive vice president –
External Affairs.
Janelle Coleman, vice president –
Corporate Philanthropy and Community Engagement, has been named to
a new role of vice president – Community Engagement, Diversity
& Inclusion. She will lead AEP's diversity and inclusion
program in addition to overseeing AEP's philanthropic community
outreach and continuing to serve as president of the AEP
Foundation.
Marc Reitter, vice president –
Regulatory & Finance for AEP Ohio, has been named president and
chief operating officer for AEP Ohio, succeeding Sundararajan.
Lisa Kelso, director – Regulatory
Services for AEP Ohio, will become vice president – Regulatory
& Finance, replacing Reitter.
Steve Baker, vice president –
Distribution Region Operations for Public Service Company of
Oklahoma (PSO), has been named
president and chief operating officer for Indiana Michigan Power,
replacing Thomas. Jennifer Leber,
director – Reliability & Grid Modernization for PSO, will
succeed Baker as vice president – Distribution Region Operations
for PSO.
Thomas, 49, has been president and chief operating officer of
Indiana Michigan Power since 2017. Previously, he was vice
president – Competitive Generation, responsible for the
management of AEP's competitive generation fleet. He also served as
vice president – AEP Ohio, Joint Venture, and Wind Generation.
Thomas joined AEP in 2001. He has a bachelor's degree in mechanical
engineering from the Rose Hulman Institute of
Technology in Terre Haute,
Indiana.
Sundararajan, 46, has been president and chief operating officer
for AEP Ohio since January 2019. He
previously was vice president – Regulatory Services and has held a
variety of leadership roles since joining AEP in 2002 including
vice president – Transmission Asset Strategy and Policy; managing
director – Transmission Business Strategy; and managing director –
Market Risk. Sundararajan has a bachelor's degree in mechanical
engineering from the Indian Institute of
Technology, Madras, India;
a master's degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Maryland; and a master's degree in
business administration (MBA) from the University of Michigan. He completed the Executive
MBA program at the University of
Virginia.
Coleman, 49, joined AEP in November
2020 from the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium where she served as
executive vice president of External Affairs. Prior to her role at
the Columbus Zoo, she worked for L Brands, Inc. for more than 12
years where she held multiple roles of increasing responsibility
including vice president of Community Relations, chief diversity
officer and president of the L Brands Foundation.
Reitter, 43, was named to his current position in May 2016. Since joining AEP in 2002, he has
held leadership positions in AEP's Finance organization, AEP's
Strategic Initiatives group, and in Utility Group Business
Services, assisting in business development opportunities. Reitter
has a bachelor's degree in finance from Arizona State University and an MBA from The
Ohio State University.
Kelso, 40, was named to her current position in March 2021. Since joining AEP in 2008, she has
been director – Business Operations Support for AEP Ohio, held
management positions in AEP's Transmission Asset Strategy and
Business Planning organizations and worked in AEP's Audit Services
department. Prior to joining AEP, Kelso worked at
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP and the Ohio Senate. Kelso has a bachelor's degree in
business administration from Ohio
University and a master's degree in accounting from The
Ohio State University. She is a
certified public accountant.
Baker, 54, has served in his current role since 2010 and has
held a variety of leadership roles at both PSO and AEP Texas since
joining AEP in 1990. He has a bachelor's degree in electrical
engineering from Texas Tech University,
and has completed the Executive Program-Darden School of Business
at the University of Virginia, the AEP
Leadership Development Program at The Ohio
State University, and the Texas A&M Management
Development Program.
Leber, 48, was named to her current position in 2020, leading
PSO's forestry and reliability engineering efforts. She also served
as storm coordinator and had responsibility for business continuity
planning at PSO. Leber has held a variety of leadership roles since
joining PSO as a distribution design engineer in 1998. She has a
bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the University of Arkansas and completed the AEP
Leadership Development program at The Ohio
State University.
American Electric Power, based in Columbus, Ohio, is focused on building a
smarter energy infrastructure and delivering new technologies and
custom energy solutions to our customers. AEP's approximately
16,800 employees operate and maintain the nation's largest
electricity transmission system and more than 223,000 miles of
distribution lines to efficiently deliver safe, reliable power to
nearly 5.5 million regulated customers in 11 states. AEP also is
one of the nation's largest electricity producers with
approximately 30,000 megawatts of diverse generating capacity,
including more than 5,500 megawatts of renewable energy. AEP's
family of companies includes utilities AEP Ohio, AEP Texas,
Appalachian Power (in Virginia and
West Virginia), AEP Appalachian
Power (in Tennessee), Indiana
Michigan Power, Kentucky Power, Public Service Company of
Oklahoma, and Southwestern
Electric Power Company (in Arkansas, Louisiana, east Texas and the Texas
Panhandle). AEP also owns AEP Energy, AEP Energy Partners,
AEP OnSite Partners, and AEP Renewables, which provide innovative
competitive energy solutions nationwide. For more information,
visit aep.com.
![(PRNewsfoto/American Electric Power) (PRNewsfoto/American Electric Power)](https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/476288/American_Electric_Power_Logo.jpg)
View original content to download
multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/aep-announces-leadership-changes-301317331.html
SOURCE American Electric Power