People

Gregory Ebel has been named vice president, investor and shareholder relations, at Duke Energy. He succeeds Sue Becht, who is planning to retire in February, 2003. Ebel was formerly the managing director of mergers and acquisitions at Duke; prior to the merger of Duke Power with Westcoast Energy, he worked at Westcoast. Becht is a 27-year veteran of Duke. Duke also honored four employees with its Pinnacle Award, the company's highest award for outstanding contributions to the company's success. The honorees were: Vincent David, manager, financial analysis, in the Energy Services division; Patrick Hester, senior vice president and general counsel, at the Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline; Hugh McCutcheon, manager, customer business application, at Duke Power; and Dennis O'Toole, division manager, application architecture, at Duke Power.

Eric van der Walde has resigned as executive vice president of wholesale at American Electric Power. He will be succeeded by Holly Koeppel, who as executive vice president of Energy Services will head AEP's unregulated businesses. Prior to joining AEP in 2000, Koeppel worked for over 15 years at Consolidated Natural Gas. AEP also announced that Michael Rencheck will become president of the company's Pro Serv organization. Previously, he had served as senior vice president for engineering and regional operations at AEP Pro Serv. Rencheck succeeds John Jones, a 36-year veteran of AEP, who is retiring.