Current Chair John W.
Somerhalder II to remain on the Board; Lisa Winston Hicks to remain Lead Independent
Director
AKRON,
Ohio, Dec. 18, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- FirstEnergy
Corp. (NYSE: FE) announced today that President and Chief Executive
Officer Brian X. Tierney has been
unanimously elected by the Board of Directors to the additional
role of Chair of the Board, effective Jan.
1, 2025. He succeeds John W.
Somerhalder II, who will remain a director of the Board.
Lisa Winston Hicks will remain the
Board's Lead Independent Director.
"Over the last several years, FirstEnergy has made tremendous
progress on its financial, operational and cultural transformation,
and this is the right time for Brian to take on the additional role
of Chair," said Somerhalder. "Brian's appointment underscores our
conviction that FirstEnergy will continue to advance its strategy
under his exemplary leadership, and I look forward to continuing to
work with him in this new capacity."
"The Board is confident that combining the CEO and Chair roles
will best position the company as it delivers more secure and
reliable energy through the execution of its Energize365 capital
investment program," Hicks said. "On behalf of the Board, we want
to thank John for his significant contributions to the company. We
are pleased that we will be able to continue to benefit from his
expertise in his role as a director."
Tierney has served as President and CEO of FirstEnergy and as a
director of the Board since June 1,
2023.
"FirstEnergy is a stronger organization thanks to the work our
dedicated team is doing to shape our future as a premier electric
company," said Tierney. "I am honored to serve as Chair and look
forward to continuing to partner with the entire Board, including
Lisa, who will provide strong independent Board leadership in her
ongoing role as Lead Independent Director. We will remain focused
on creating shareholder value by delivering on our financial
commitments, driving continuous improvement and investment across
our regulated electric companies, and capitalizing on the
opportunities of the energy transition."
About Brian Tierney
Brian X. Tierney is President and
CEO of FirstEnergy Corp. He also is a member of the company's Board
of Directors. Previously, Tierney was a Senior Managing Director
and Global Head of Operations and Asset Management for Blackstone
Infrastructure Partners. Prior to joining Blackstone in 2021,
Tierney spent more than 23 years at American Electric Power (AEP),
one of the largest electrical utilities in the United States. He held a number of senior
leadership positions at AEP, most recently serving as Executive
Vice President of Strategy. From 2009-2020, Tierney served as
Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. As CFO,
Tierney directed the company's finance and accounting activities,
and also had responsibility for strategy, procurement, supply chain
and fleet operations. Tierney gained operations experience as
Executive Vice President – AEP Utilities East, AEP's largest
regulated utility region, responsible for the distribution,
customer service and financial performance of AEP's utility
operating companies in the states of Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia and West
Virginia.
FirstEnergy is dedicated to integrity, safety, reliability and
operational excellence. Its electric distribution companies form
one of the nation's largest investor-owned electric systems,
serving customers in Ohio,
Pennsylvania, New Jersey, West
Virginia, Maryland and
New York. The company's
transmission subsidiaries operate approximately 24,000 miles of
transmission lines that connect the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic
regions. Follow FirstEnergy online at www.firstenergycorp.com and
on X @FirstEnergyCorp.
Editor's Note: A professional photo of Brian X.
Tierney is available for download on Flickr.
Forward-Looking Statements: This news release includes
forward-looking statements based on information currently available
to management. Such statements are subject to certain risks and
uncertainties and readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance
on these forward-looking statements. These statements include
declarations regarding management's intents, beliefs and current
expectations. These statements typically contain, but are not
limited to, the terms "anticipate," "potential," "expect,"
"forecast," "target," "will," "intend," "believe," "project,"
"estimate," "plan" and similar words. Forward-looking statements
involve estimates, assumptions, known and unknown risks,
uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results,
performance or achievements to be materially different from any
future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by
such forward-looking statements, which may include the following:
the potential liabilities, increased costs and unanticipated
developments resulting from government investigations and
agreements, including those associated with compliance with or
failure to comply with the Deferred Prosecution Agreement entered
into July 21, 2021 with the U.S.
Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Ohio; the risks and uncertainties associated
with government investigations and audits regarding Ohio House Bill
6, as passed by Ohio's 133rd
General Assembly ("HB 6") and related matters, including potential
adverse impacts on federal or state regulatory matters, including,
but not limited to, matters relating to rates; the risks and
uncertainties associated with litigation, arbitration, mediation
and similar proceedings, particularly regarding HB 6 related
matters; changes in national and regional economic conditions,
including recession, volatile interest rates, inflationary
pressure, supply chain disruptions, higher fuel costs, and
workforce impacts, affecting us and/or our customers and those
vendors with which we do business; variations in weather, such as
mild seasonal weather variations and severe weather conditions
(including events caused, or exacerbated, by climate change, such
as wildfires, hurricanes, flooding, droughts, high wind events and
extreme heat events) and other natural disasters affecting future
operating results and associated regulatory actions or outcomes in
response to such conditions; legislative and regulatory
developments, including, but not limited to, matters related to
rates, energy regulatory policies, compliance and enforcement
activity, cyber security, and climate change; the risks associated
with physical attacks, such as acts of war, terrorism, sabotage or
other acts of violence, and cyber-attacks and other disruptions to
our, or our vendors', information technology system, which may
compromise our operations, and data security breaches of sensitive
data, intellectual property and proprietary or personally
identifiable information; the ability to meet our goals relating to
employee, environmental, social and corporate governance
opportunities, improvements, and efficiencies, including our
greenhouse gas ("GHG") reduction goals; the ability to accomplish
or realize anticipated benefits through establishing a culture of
continuous improvement and our other strategic and financial goals,
including, but not limited to, overcoming current uncertainties and
challenges associated with the ongoing government investigations,
executing Energize365, our transmission and distribution
investment plan, executing on our rate filing strategy, controlling
costs, improving credit metrics, maintaining investment grade
ratings, and growing earnings; changing market conditions affecting
the measurement of certain liabilities and the value of assets held
in our pension trusts may negatively impact our forecasted growth
rate, results of operations, and may also cause us to make
contributions to our pension sooner or in amounts that are larger
than currently anticipated; mitigating exposure for remedial
activities associated with retired and formerly owned electric
generation assets, including those sites impacted by the legacy
coal combustion residual rules that were finalized during 2024;
changes to environmental laws and regulations, including, but not
limited to, rules finalized by the Environmental Protection Agency
and the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") related to
climate change; changes in customers' demand for power, including,
but not limited to, economic conditions, the impact of climate
change, emerging technology, particularly with respect to
electrification, energy storage and distributed sources of
generation; the ability to access the public securities and other
capital and credit markets in accordance with our financial plans,
the cost of such capital and overall condition of the capital and
credit markets affecting us, including the increasing number of
financial institutions evaluating the impact of climate change on
their investment decisions; future actions taken by credit rating
agencies that could negatively affect either our access to or terms
of financing or our financial condition and liquidity; changes in
assumptions regarding factors such as economic conditions within
our territories, the reliability of our transmission and
distribution system, generation resource planning, or the
availability of capital or other resources supporting identified
transmission and distribution investment opportunities; the
potential of non-compliance with debt covenants in our credit
facilities; the ability to comply with applicable reliability
standards and energy efficiency and peak demand reduction mandates;
human capital management challenges, including among other things,
attracting and retaining appropriately trained and qualified
employees and labor disruptions by our unionized workforce; changes
to significant accounting policies; any changes in tax laws or
regulations, including, but not limited to, the Inflation Reduction
Act of 2022, or adverse tax audit results or rulings; and the risks
and other factors discussed from time to time in our SEC filings.
These forward-looking statements are also qualified by, and should
be read together with, the risk factors included in FirstEnergy
Corp.'s Form 10-K, Form 10-Q and in FirstEnergy's other filings
with the SEC. The foregoing review of factors also should not be
construed as exhaustive. New factors emerge from time to time, and
it is not possible for management to predict all such factors, nor
assess the impact of any such factor on FirstEnergy Corp.'s
business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of
factors, may cause results to differ materially from those
contained in any forward-looking statements. FirstEnergy Corp.
expressly disclaims any obligation to update or revise, except as
required by law, any forward-looking statements contained herein or
in the information incorporated by reference as a result of new
information, future events or otherwise.
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SOURCE FirstEnergy Corp.
