- CFO Julie A. Sloat named
president effective immediately, CEO effective Jan. 1
- Nicholas K. Akins will become
executive chair Jan. 1
COLUMBUS, Ohio, Aug. 10,
2022 /PRNewswire/ -- American Electric Power's
(Nasdaq: AEP) Board of Directors has appointed Julie A. Sloat president and chief financial
officer, effective immediately. She has been elected chief
executive officer, effective Jan. 1,
2023. Sloat is AEP's 11th president and will become the
seventh CEO in the company's 116-year history. She is currently
executive vice president and CFO. The company expects to name a new
CFO before Jan. 1.
Nicholas K. Akins, chairman,
president and chief executive officer, is stepping down as
president as part of AEP's executive succession plan and will end
his term as CEO Dec. 31. He will
become executive chair of the AEP Board and will remain an
executive and officer of the company. He has been president and CEO
since 2011 and chairman since 2014.
"Julie is an exceptional leader who has successfully led key
strategic areas for the company," Akins said. "Her financial
expertise and positive relationship with investors have been
essential for the execution of our long-term strategy, enabling us
to deliver strong earnings quarter after quarter while continuing
to raise guidance and provide consistent dividend growth.
Her deep understanding of our business and industry, including
her experience leading AEP Ohio and our regulatory team, will be
critical as we continue to invest in new energy resources and grid
enhancements that improve service and reliability, support a clean
energy future and provide value to our customers, communities and
investors.
"Julie's engaging leadership style also will continue to enhance
AEP's culture. She is committed to the success of our employees,
customers and the communities we serve and is passionate about
fostering positive, mutually beneficial relationships inside and
outside the company," Akins said.
"Nick has transformed AEP during the 11 years that he has led
the company. His focus on innovation, technology, and modernization
of the grid and AEP's generation fleet is enabling clean, reliable
and resilient energy to fuel growth in the communities that AEP
serves. He also has built an open, collaborative culture that
embraces diversity, equity and inclusion," said Sara Martinez Tucker, lead director of AEP's
Board.
"AEP is fortunate that Nick has focused on developing a group of
strong and capable leaders to ensure the company's continued
success. Julie has demonstrated exemplary leadership skills at
every stage of her career, and we are confident in her ability to
lead this team. During her time as CFO, she has improved the
financial performance of the company, and she also enhanced the
performance and culture of AEP Ohio during the transition to
competitive markets. The Board is confident that she is the right
person to lead AEP during this dynamic time for the industry and
the company," Tucker said.
"This is a time of tremendous change and opportunity for AEP as
we invest in new energy technologies and infrastructure to provide
clean and reliable energy to our 5.5 million customers," Sloat
said. "I'm honored to have the opportunity to lead an amazing team
of nearly 17,000 employees and have seen first-hand their
commitment to the communities we serve and ensuring our customers
can count on us every day to power their lives and businesses. It's
an exciting time to be in this industry and build on the 116-year
legacy of AEP."
Sloat, 53, has been executive vice president and chief financial
officer for AEP since January 2021
with responsibility for accounting and tax, treasury and risk,
corporate planning and budgeting and investor relations. She was
previously senior vice president, Treasury and Risk and led all
elements of the treasury function including the cultivation of
banker, investor and rating agency relationships to support the
capital needs of the company. She also was responsible for the
comprehensive management of the corporation's risk including
operational, market, credit, insurance, enterprise risk management
and business continuity.
Sloat also served as president and chief operating officer for
AEP Ohio, an AEP operating company serving approximately 1.5
million customers in Ohio, where
she had responsibility for distribution operations, customer and
regulatory relationships and the financial performance of one of
AEP's largest regulated subsidiaries.
Sloat has held several additional key leadership positions since
joining the company in 1999, including senior vice president and
treasurer; vice president, Regulatory Case Management; vice
president, Treasurer and Investor Relations; and vice president,
Investor Relations, Strategic Initiatives and Economic
Forecasting.
In addition to her AEP career, Sloat was vice president of
Corporate Finance and Investor Relations at Tween Brands and a bank
debt underwriter and buy side equity analyst at Bank One (JP
Morgan). She also worked for M&T Mortgage, a subsidiary of
M&T Bank Corp.
Sloat has a bachelor's degree in Business Administration with a
double major in Finance and Economics and a Master of Business
Administration from The Ohio State
University. She completed the Nuclear Reactor Technology
Program at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology.
Sloat serves on the board of directors for Evoqua Water
Technologies Corp. and as the chair of the board of directors for
the James Cancer Hospital Foundation. She also serves on the board
of Ohio Valley Electric Corp. and Pelotonia.
American Electric Power, based in Columbus, Ohio, is powering a cleaner,
brighter energy future for its customers and communities. AEP's
approximately 16,700 employees operate and maintain the nation's
largest electricity transmission system and more than 224,000 miles
of distribution lines to safely deliver reliable and affordable
power to 5.5 million regulated customers in 11 states. AEP also is
one of the nation's largest electricity producers with
approximately 31,000 megawatts of diverse generating capacity,
including more than 7,100 megawatts of renewable energy. The
company's plans include growing its renewable generation portfolio
to approximately 50% of total capacity by 2030. AEP is on track to
reach an 80% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions from 2000 levels
by 2030 and has committed to achieving net zero by 2050. AEP is
recognized consistently for its focus on sustainability, community
engagement, and diversity, equity and inclusion. 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, which provides
innovative competitive energy solutions nationwide. For more
information, visit aep.com.
This report made by American Electric Power and its Registrant
Subsidiaries contains forward-looking statements within the meaning
of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Although AEP
and each of its Registrant Subsidiaries believe that their
expectations are based on reasonable assumptions, any such
statements may be influenced by factors that could cause actual
outcomes and results to be materially different from those
projected. Among the factors that could cause actual results to
differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements are:
changes in economic conditions, electric market demand and
demographic patterns in AEP service territories; the impact of
pandemics, including COVID-19, and any associated disruption of
AEP's business operations due to impacts on economic or market
conditions, costs of compliance with potential government
regulations and employees' reactions to those regulations,
electricity usage, supply chain issues, customers, service
providers, vendors and suppliers; the economic impact of escalating
global trade tensions including the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, and the adoption or expansion of
economic sanctions or trade restrictions; inflationary or
deflationary interest rate trends; volatility in the financial
markets, particularly developments affecting the availability or
cost of capital to finance new capital projects and refinance
existing debt; the availability and cost of funds to finance
working capital and capital needs, particularly if expected sources
of capital, such as proceeds from the sale of assets or
subsidiaries, do not materialize, and during periods when the time
lag between incurring costs and recovery is long and the costs are
material; decreased demand for electricity; weather conditions,
including storms and drought conditions, and AEP's ability to
recover significant storm restoration costs; the cost of fuel and
its transportation, the creditworthiness and performance of fuel
suppliers and transporters and the cost of storing and disposing of
used fuel, including coal ash and spent nuclear fuel; the
availability of fuel and necessary generation capacity and the
performance of generation plants; AEP's ability to recover fuel and
other energy costs through regulated or competitive electric rates;
the ability to transition from fossil generation and the ability to
build or acquire renewable generation, transmission lines and
facilities (including the ability to obtain any necessary
regulatory approvals and permits) when needed at acceptable prices
and terms, including favorable tax treatment, and to recover those
costs; new legislation, litigation and government regulation,
including changes to tax laws and regulations, oversight of nuclear
generation, energy commodity trading and new or heightened
requirements for reduced emissions of sulfur, nitrogen, mercury,
carbon, soot or particulate matter and other substances that could
impact the continued operation, cost recovery, and/or profitability
of AEP's generation plants and related assets; the risks associated
with fuels used before, during and after the generation of
electricity, including coal ash and nuclear fuel; timing and
resolution of pending and future rate cases, negotiations and other
regulatory decisions, including rate or other recovery of new
investments in generation, distribution and transmission service
and environmental compliance; resolution of litigation; AEP's
ability to constrain operation and maintenance costs; prices and
demand for power generated and sold at wholesale; changes in
technology, particularly with respect to energy storage and new,
developing, alternative or distributed sources of generation; AEP's
ability to recover through rates any remaining unrecovered
investment in generation units that may be retired before the end
of their previously projected useful lives; volatility and changes
in markets for coal and other energy-related commodities,
particularly changes in the price of natural gas; changes in
utility regulation and the allocation of costs within regional
transmission organizations, including ERCOT, PJM and SPP; changes
in the creditworthiness of the counterparties with contractual
arrangements, including participants in the energy trading market;
actions of rating agencies, including changes in the ratings of
debt; the impact of volatility in the capital markets on the value
of the investments held by AEP's pension, other postretirement
benefit plans, captive insurance entity and nuclear decommissioning
trust and the impact of such volatility on future funding
requirements; accounting standards periodically issued by
accounting standard-setting bodies; other risks and unforeseen
events, including wars and military conflicts, the effects of
terrorism (including increased security costs), embargoes,
naturally occurring and human-caused fires, cyber security threats
and other catastrophic events; and the ability to attract and
retain the requisite work force and key personnel.
![Julie Sloat, AEP Julie Sloat, AEP](https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1875501/American_Electric_Power_Julie_Sloat.jpg)
![(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:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/aep-announces-executive-succession-301603206.html
SOURCE American Electric Power