New Opportunities:
PPL Corp. named C. Joseph Hopf, vice president of energy trading for Goldman Sachs in New York, as PPL's lead energy marketing executive. In his new position as senior vice president-energy marketing, Hopf will have responsibility for the company's marketing operation, which includes wholesale and retail energy sales, primarily in the eastern and western United States.
PG&E Corp. elected President and CEO Peter A. Darbee to the additional position of chairman of the boards of directors for the corporation and its utility unit, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. Pacific Gas and Electric Co. Executive Vice President and COO Thomas B. King was elected the utility's president and CEO, as well as a member of the Pacific Gas and Electric Co. board of directors. The appointments are effective Jan. 1, 2006. Darbee has been the corporation's president and CEO since Jan. 1, 2005. As chairman, Darbee will succeed Robert D. Glynn Jr. who will retire at year end in keeping with plans he announced last December. King will succeed Gordon R. Smith, who is leaving the company at the end of the year. King also will become a senior vice president of PG&E Corp.
Also, PG&E Corp. and its utility unit, Pacific Gas and Electric Co., made seven new appointments at the officer level. PG&E Corp. Senior Vice President, CFO, and Controller Christopher P. Johns became senior vice president, CFO, and treasurer for both PG&E Corp. and Pacific Gas and Electric Co. G. Robert Powell assumed Johns' current role as controller. Johns was named senior vice president and controller in September 2001. He assumed his current position Jan. 1, 2005.