[BETA] Fortnightly

New Opportunities: American Electric Power named Robert P. Powers as executive v.p. and COO effective immediately. Powers previously was president of AEP Utilities. AEP also appointed Mark J. James v.p. of economic and business development. James founded consulting firm ED Solutions Inc., and served as its president and CEO. In addition, AEP named Tracy A. Elich v.p. of human resources. Elich was AEP’s managing director of corporate and field human resources.

Cleco announced a new management structure. George W. Bausewine , president and COO of Cleco Power, will retire in February 2012. R. Russell Davis , formerly Cleco’s v.p. of investor relations and chief accounting officer, was promoted to senior v.p. of external relations and information technology. Judy P. Miller , formerly Cleco’s corporate secretary, has been promoted to senior v.p. of corporate services and internal audit.  Darren Olagues , Cleco’s senior v.p. of finance and CFO, will temporarily serve as treasurer. 

PPL announced that James H. Miller will retire on March 31, 2012. Miller, 63, served as chairman, president and CEO of PPL from October 2006. He will continue to serve as chairman until his retirement. William H. Spence , PPL president and COO, was named CEO. Spence also was elected to PPL’s board of directors.

Northeast Utilities announced executive changes at Connecticut Light & Power (CL&P). James A. Muntz , NU president of transmission, will serve as president and COO of CL&P. He initially joined CL&P as v.p. of customer operations. William J. Quinlan was named to the newly created position of v.p. of emergency preparedness. He was v.p. of customer solutions. Dana Louth , v.p. of asset strategy, was named to the new position of v.p. of infrastructure hardening, reporting to Quinlan.

The boards of directors of IDACORP and Idaho Power approved changes to executive positions, including appointing Darrel T. Anderson , formerly executive v.p. of administrative services and CFO, as president and CFO of Idaho Power. Idaho Power elected Daniel B. Minor to COO, and Steven R. Keen to senior v.p. of finance and treasurer.

Georgia Power elected Anthony Wilson as executive v.p., customer service and operations. Wilson currently serves as v.p. of transmission. He will replace Mickey Brown who retired.

Southern Nuclear hired Bradley J. Adams as v.p. of fleet operations support. Adams was plant manager at Exelon’s Byron Station since 2008.

Peabody Energy named Chris A. Shelton as v.p. of applied technology. Previously Shelton was a consultant with Honeywell in Houston.

Conservation Services Group (CSG) added two senior executives, Cindy Johnson and Lisa M. Ludwig . Cindy Johnson joined the firm as v.p. of marketing and communications. Previously she was an independent consultant. Lisa M. Ludwig was named v.p. of strategic initiatives, a newly created position at the company. She was v.p. of marketing and business development for Ambient Corp.

Associations: The National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) announced a new slate of officers and committee chairs. South Carolina Public Service Commissioner David Wright was named NARUC president. Other new officers include Philip Jones of Washington (first vice president); Colette Honorable of Arkansas (second vice