New Opportunities: FirstEnergy Corp. named Bennett L. Gaines vice president and CIO. Prior to joining FirstEnergy, Gaines was vice president and CIO at Cinergy Corp. He succeeds C. John Daugherty, who has served as interim vice president and CIO since September 2005.
PPL Corp. named Matt Simmons vice president and controller. Simmons is currently vice president – finance, and controller for Duke Energy Americas in Houston. He has served in his present position for more than two years, after joining Duke in 2003 as vice president and controller for Duke Energy North America.
NorthWestern Corp., d/b/a NorthWestern Energy, named D. Louis Peoples to its board of directors. Peoples will stand for election at the company’s next annual meeting. Peoples, president and founder of Nyack Management Co., previously was CEO and vice chairman of the board at Orange and Rockland Utilities and executive vice president at Madison Gas and Electric Co. Wisconsin.