People
New Positions:
Great Plains Energy Inc. named Michael Chesser as chairman and chief executive officer, effective Oct. 1. He succeeds Bernie Beaudoin, who is retiring at year's end. Chesser formerly served as president and COO at Atlantic Energy Inc. and as president and CEO at GPU Energy. He also served as chairman and CEO of Itron Inc., a maker of meter-reading and automated communications equipment, where he continues to serve on the board. Great Plains also named William Downey president, chief operating officer and a director. He also will serve as president and chief executive officer of its Kansas City Power & Light unit. Downey joined the company in 2000 and has served as executive vice president of Great Plains Energy and president of Kansas City Power & Light.
Wisconsin Energy Corp. said it would replace the head of its electric generation group with an executive from bankrupt Mirant Corp. The Milwaukee-based company, which owns two electric and gas utilities, said Rick Kuester, 53, will replace Richard Grigg as president and chief executive of We Generation, which includes Wisconsin Energy's regulated electric generation plants and three non-utility subsidiaries. Until his retirement next year, Grigg, 54, will serve as a special advisor to the company. Kuester, who will take over on Oct. 13, is leaving his position as chief executive of Mirant Asia-Pacific Ltd. and senior vice president, international of Mirant Corp.
David A. Wilby, a former adviser to Gov. Angus King and U.S. Sen. William Cohen on energy and natural resources issues, has become the new executive director of the Independent Energy Producers of Maine. Wilby previously worked in the energy field as a consultant for Portland-based Firth Associates Inc.
Steve Hiniker, executive director of the Wisconsin Citizens' Utility Board since 1998, will step down Sept. 19 to take the helm of the environmental advocacy group 1,000 Friends of Wisconsin. Hiniker will become executive director at 1,000 Friends.
Progress Energy's board of directors elected Peter S. Rummell as a director effective Sept. 18, 2003. Rummell is chairman and CEO of The St. Joe Co., a real estate operating company headquartered in Jacksonville, Fla.
FirstEnergy Corp. announced that Joseph J. Hagan has joined its FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company (FENOC) subsidiary as senior vice president of engineering and support services. Hagan is a former senior vice president of Nuclear Operations for Exelon Generation in Illinois, with responsibility for the Mid-Atlantic Regional Operating Group, which included Peach Bottom, Limerick, Oyster Creek and TMI 1 nuclear power plants.
Resignation:
Jim Irvin, an Arizona utility regulator, resigned in late September in the face of an impeachment investigation that could have helped oust him from the Arizona State Corporation Commission. Irvin, who had repeatedly brushed aside any calls for his resignation, decided to step down just days before a special impeachment investigator was due to release his findings about possible misuse of office committed by the Republican officeholder. The probe was set into motion by Arizona's House of Representatives in the wake of a stinging $60.4-million civil jury verdict against Irvin for interfering with a bidding war between Southern Union Co. and Oneok Inc. over Southwest Gas Corp. in 1999.
Energy West Inc. said that Edward Bernica, president, CEO, and a member of the board of directors, resigned and John Allen is serving as the acting interim president.
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