New Opportunities: OGE Energy appointed OGE Energy chairman and CEO, Peter B. Delaney, as president of the company. He replaces Danny P. Harris who retired. Delaney served as chairman and CEO of OGE Energy since September 2007 and as CEO of subsidiary, Enogex, since 2002. In addition, OGE Energy named Stephen E. Merrill CEO of Enogex. Merrill previously served as v.p., human resources and corporate relations at OGE Energy. And Paul Renfrow, v.p., public affairs, assumed responsibility for human resources.
Georgia Power announced several organizational changes and appointments Walt Dukes, land department v.p., was named senior v.p. of metro Atlanta regions, replacing Richard Holmes, who retired. Lenn Chandler, metro Atlanta east region manager, was elected to Northeast region v.p. Pedro Cherry, metro Atlanta west region manager, became v.p. of community and economic development, replacing Kevin Fletcher, who retired. Mike Clanton, who currently serves as energy sales and efficiency v.p., will assume the duties of land v.p., and Murry Weaver, v.p. of Southern Wholesale Energy, will assume Clanton’s duties as v.p. of sales. Mike Hazelton, who serves as Northeast region v.p., assumed the role of v.p. of marketing. Danny Lindsey, who was general manager of distribution engineering, construction and maintenance, was named transmission v.p.
Florida Power & Light President and CEO Armando J. Olivera announced his plan to retire on May 2, 2012, after observing his 40th anniversary with the company. As a result, Eric Silagy, currently senior v.p. of regulatory and state government affairs at FPL, was named to succeed Olivera.
ConEdison Solutions named Michael W. Gibson v.p., energy services. Previously Gibson was regional general manager, Midwest office.
NRG Energy named Chad S. Plotkin v.p., investor relations. Previously, Plotkin served as v.p. of strategy and new business.
UniSource Energy named David G. Hutchens as president. Hutchens became v.p. of energy efficiency and resource planning in May 2009 and was named executive v.p. in March 2011.
Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG) elected Shahid Malik as president of PSEG Energy Resources & Trade. Previously Malik served as president and CEO of Strategic Energy, Great Plains Energy’s unregulated retail marketing subsidiary. Malik will replace Dan Cregg who will resume his position as v.p., power finance.
Conservation Services Group (CSG) named Tina M. Bennett as president. Prior to joining the company, Bennett served as v.p. of asset management and information technology at International Power (IP) of Marlborough, Mass.
Steptoe & Johnson expanded its energy practice with the addition of former Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Commissioner Marc Spitzer as a partner in Steptoe’s Washington office.
Associations: Two Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) executives were named fellows of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). Mark McGranaghan, v.p. of power delivery and utilization for EPRI and Dr. Ram Adapa, technical leader for transmission systems, were recognized for their contributions in power quality issues and DC and flexible AC transmission systems, respectively.
Boards of Directors: The Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator (MISO) re-elected two current board members, Shelley A. Longmuir and Baljit “Bal” Dail. Longmuir joined the Board in 2006 and Dail joined in 2009. Both began new three-year terms in January 2012. Longmuir is the former president and CEO of the National Business Aviation Association and Dail is co-CEO of Aon Hewitt.
FirstEnergy elected Donald T. Misheff to the company’s board. Mischeff was a managing partner at Ernst & Young.
We welcome submissions to People, especially those accompanied by a high-resolution color photograph. E-mail to: people@pur.com.