S&P Global Market Intelligence presents a weekly rundownof recent executive management, board and regulatory changes in the energy industry.The moves are listed by sector in reverse chronological order.
on April 7 said it hashired former FERC ChairmanJon Wellinghoff as its chief policy officer.Wellinghoff most recently was a partner at Stoel Rives LLP. He also served as generalcounsel to the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada, as well as two terms as Nevada'sfirst advocate for customers of public utilities.
on April 2 received theresignation of Bill Richardson, U.S. secretary of energyand former New Mexico governor, from the company's board of directors, effectiveimmediately. There was no disagreement with the company on any matter, accordingto the filing.
named Jim Judgeto succeed Tom May, who intends to retireas president and CEO on May 4. May will remain with the company as nonexecutivechairman of the board, according to an April 6 statement. Judge is currently theexecutive vice president and CFO of Eversource Energy and will become a member ofthe board. He will stay as CFO until a successor is named and is expected to beelected as chair of the board during the company's 2017 annual meeting.
said April 5that it elected Jack Waters as a member director of theboard. Waters has been with the board since 2013 and also serves as vice presidentof the board of directors of CoastalElectric Coop Inc.
Also, Charles Fendley was re-elected chairmanof the board and is joined by OkefenokeRural Electric Membership Corp. First Vice President Steve Rawl Sr., who was re-elected vicechairman. Fendley is also the chairman of AmicalolaElectric Member Corp.
Otis Jones, the vice chairman of the Jackson Electric Membership Corp. board, was re-elected assecretary-treasurer. Ronnie Lee and Tony Tucker were also elected to the company'sboard during its 2016 annual meeting. Lee is president and CEO of , while Tuckerholds the same positions at MitchellElectric Member Corp.
GridLiance HoldcoLP, an entity formed to invest in electric transmission assets owned by public powerentities, on April 4 announced the closing of its acquisition of the transmissionassets of Tri-County Electric CoopInc.-OK in Oklahoma. Along with the completion of the acquisition announcedApril 4, the company said it has namedKevin Hopper as president of its SPPregion, Neal Chapman as vice presidentof engineering and Jim Useldinger asvice president of operations. They will oversee the engineering and operation functionsof the TCEC assets and will help plan the company's expansion, GridLiance said.
nuclear power industryveteran Ken Peters as chief nuclear officerfor the 2,300-MW Comanche Peaknuclear power plant, effective April 1. Peters has been serving as acting chiefnuclear officer at the Somervell County, Texas-based facility since December 2015,according to a March 30 release.
Days after Louisianaregulators approved the purchase of ClecoCorp. by a Macquarie Infrastructure& Real Assets Inc.-led investor group, Cleco and its subsidiary announcedseveral management changesthat will take effect on or about the completion of the $4.7 billion , according to aForm 8-K filed April 1. Cleco Power President Darren Olagues will replace BruceWilliamson as CEO and president of Cleco Corp. Williamson will also leave theCEO position at Cleco Power and will no longer serve on Cleco's board.
The followingexecutives will also terminate their employment with Cleco: Thomas Miller as senior vice president,CFO and treasurer; Wade Hoefling as seniorvice president, general counsel and director of regulatory compliance; and Judy Miller as senior vice president ofcorporate services and information technology.
Meanwhile, Terry Taylor will become interim CFO ofthe company and will retain her role as controller and chief accounting officer.Anthony Bunting — currently vice presidentof transmission and distribution operations of Cleco Power — will be appointed seniorvice president of corporate services and information technology.
Julia Callis, currently associate general counsel and corporatesecretary, will become senior vice president, general counsel and chief complianceofficer. Keith Crump, currently seniorvice president of commercial operations of Cleco Power, will become senior vicepresident and chief commercial officer. WilliamFontenot, currently senior vice president of utility operations of Cleco Power,will become senior vice president and COO of the company.
Natural Gas/Midstream
on April 7 announcedthe appointment of Mark Lewis as a member of its general partner'sboard of directors. Lewis will also serve as a member of the board's audit committee,according to the release. He previously held positions at Price Waterhouse LLP and Ernst & Young LLP.
on April 5 announceda major change to theorganizational structure for Freeport-McMoRan Oil & Gas, resulting in its executiveteam being laid off. The restructuring means that Freeport-McMoRan Oil & GasCEO Jim Flores, President and COO Doss Bourgeois, Executive Vice Presidentand CFO Winston Talbert and ExecutiveVice President and General Counsel John Wombwellare all leaving the company. Freeport has been undertaking a strategic review ofits oil and gas business under pressure from activist investor Carl Icahn, who hadbecome Freeport's largest shareholder. As of the end of 2015, Icahn Capital LP owned8.31% of Freeport's outstanding shares, according to SNL data. Mark Kidder has been appointed executivevice president for operations at Freeport-McMoRan Oil & Gas. Kidder was previouslyvice president for operations.
on April 4 announced the of Gregory Vesey as its new managing directorand CEO, effective on the same day. Vesey, who succeeds Maurice Brand, will be based in Houston. Brand will continue to serveas an executive director until his retirement, scheduled for June 2017. Vesey previouslyworked at Chevron Corp.for 35 years, where his responsibilities most recently included Chevron's GlobalGas marketing and trading activity, including LNG development. Vesey also recentlyconcluded a four-year term on the board of the Natural Gas Supply Association, thelast two years of which he served as chairman, according to the news release.
on April 1 disclosedthe resignation of Duke Ligon, Alexander Lynch, William DamonIII, J. Philip McCormick and Clark Edwards as directors, effective uponthe appointment of a trustee in bankruptcy. The company noted in the Form 8-K filedApril 1 that the resignations are not the result of any disagreement with PostRockEnergy regarding its operations, policies or practices, but are because of the filingof the bankruptcy cases.
in a Form 8-K filedApril 1 said Frederic Poses has informedthe company's board of directors that he will not be standing for at the 2016 annual meeting ofshareholders. Poses' decision was not due to any disagreement with the company,according to the filing. Poses has served as Chesapeake's independent director sinceJune 2012 and currently serves as a member of its finance committee as well as thenominating, governance and social responsibility committee.
and said April1 that Christopher Manning has from the boards of bothAntero Resources and the general partner of Antero Midstream. Neither entity isplanning to fill the vacated seats in the near term, according to a news release.
Coal
continued its corporatereorganization April 7 with the announcement that Executive Vice President and ChiefCommercial Officer James Grech will from his positions followingthe recent sale of company assets. A company release noted that Grech's departurecomes as CONSOL "has continued with its corporate reorganization efforts tofurther align the administrative and commercial functions within its natural gasexploration and production (E&P) division and its thermal coal division."
on April 5 said Gary Kohn has been appointed vice president of investor relations and will serveas a member of the leadership team, effective April 11. Kohn served in leadershiproles in investor relations, treasury, and finance at companies including FirstData, Western Union, Ciber and Intrepid Potash, according to a news release.