AKRON, Ohio, June 30, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- FirstEnergy
Corp. (NYSE: FE) today announced that Lisa
Winston Hicks and Paul Kaleta
have been elected to the company's Board of Directors. These
additions will bring the size of the Board to 16 members.
"We welcome Lisa and Paul to the FirstEnergy Board," said
Chairman Donald T. Misheff. "Lisa
has held legal and leadership roles in several corporations,
including in the utility space, as well as in private practice and
the federal government. She is recognized for her broad experience
in the areas of corporate governance, executive compensation,
compliance and risk management, as well as for her business
acumen, integrity and strategic insights. Paul has been a leader in
the energy sector for 30 years. He has extensive legal,
industry and public company experience, together with expertise in
areas including Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) matters,
compliance and ethics, and crisis management."
Hicks and Kaleta will join FirstEnergy directors Jesse A. Lynn and Melvin
Williams on a newly established Special Litigation
Committee. The Committee, comprised of recently elected,
independent members of the Board, will have full and binding
authority to determine the Board's actions with respect to pending
shareholder derivative litigation.
Hicks, 54, has been chairman of the board for MV Transportation,
Inc., the largest privately owned passenger
transportation contracting firm in the United States, since October 2014. She served as executive vice
president, general counsel and corporate secretary for MV from 2012
until 2018. From 2004 until 2012 she was senior vice president,
associate general counsel and corporate secretary for Energy Future
Holdings. Earlier in her career she worked as a litigator in
private law practice and served in various roles at the U.S.
Department of Justice. Hicks graduated from Stanford University and received her Juris Doctor
from Harvard Law School.
Kaleta, 66, has been managing director of SERC Consulting LLC,
an energy policy and strategy firm, since 2020. Previously, he was
executive vice president and general counsel at First Solar, Inc.,
from 2014 to 2020. Earlier in his career, he was executive vice
president, general counsel, shared services and secretary, and
chief compliance officer for NV Energy, Inc., from 2006 to 2013. He
served as vice president and general counsel, among other senior
executive positions, for Koch Industries, Inc., from 1998 to 2005;
and was vice president and general counsel of Niagara Mohawk Power
Corporation (now part of National Grid) from 1992 to 1998. Kaleta
graduated from Hamilton College and
received his Juris Doctor from Georgetown
University Law Center.
FirstEnergy is dedicated to integrity, safety, reliability and
operational excellence. Its 10 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 on Twitter @FirstEnergyCorp or
online at www.firstenergycorp.com.
Editor's Note: Photos of Lisa
Winston Hicks and Paul Kaleta
are available on Flickr.
Forward-Looking Statements: This news release
includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of the
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 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 effectiveness of our ongoing discussions
with the U.S. Attorney's Office of the S.D. Ohio to resolve its investigation with respect
to us; the results of the internal investigation and evaluation of
our controls framework and remediation of our material weakness in
internal control over financial reporting; the risks and
uncertainties associated with government investigations regarding
Ohio House Bill 6 and related matters including potential adverse
impacts on federal or state regulatory matters including, but not
limited to, matters relating to rates; the potential of
non-compliance with debt covenants in our credit facilities due to
matters associated with the government investigations regarding
Ohio House Bill 6 and related matters; the risks and uncertainties
associated with litigation, arbitration, mediation and similar
proceedings; legislative and regulatory developments, including,
but not limited to, matters related to rates, compliance and
enforcement activity; the ability to accomplish or realize
anticipated benefits from strategic and financial goals, including,
but not limited to, maintaining financial flexibility, overcoming
current uncertainties and challenges associated with the ongoing
government investigations, executing our transmission and
distribution investment plans, greenhouse gas reduction goals,
controlling costs, improving our credit metrics, strengthening our
balance sheet and growing earnings; economic and weather conditions
affecting future operating results, such as a recession,
significant weather events and other natural disasters, and
associated regulatory events or actions in response to such
conditions; mitigating exposure for remedial activities associated
with retired and formerly owned electric generation assets; 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; the extent and duration of COVID-19 and the
impacts to our business, operations and financial condition
resulting from the outbreak of COVID-19 including, but not limited
to, disruption of businesses in our territories, volatile capital
and credit markets, legislative and regulatory actions, including
the vaccine's efficacy and the effectiveness of its distribution;
the effectiveness of our pandemic and business continuity plans,
the precautionary measures we are taking on behalf of our
customers, contractors and employees, our customers' ability to
make their utility payment and the potential for supply-chain
disruptions; actions that may be 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 economic conditions within our territories,
the reliability of our transmission and distribution system, or the
availability of capital or other resources supporting identified
transmission and distribution investment opportunities; changes in
customers' demand for power, including, but not limited to, the
impact of climate change or energy efficiency and peak demand
reduction mandates; changes in national and regional economic
conditions affecting us and/or our major industrial and commercial
customers or others with which we do business; the risks associated
with cyber-attacks and other disruptions to our 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
comply with applicable reliability standards and energy efficiency
and peak demand reduction mandates; changes to environmental laws
and regulations, including, but not limited to, those related to
climate change; changing market conditions affecting the
measurement of certain liabilities and the value of assets held in
our pension trusts and other trust funds, or causing us to make
contributions sooner, or in amounts that are larger, than currently
anticipated; labor disruptions by our unionized workforce; changes
to significant accounting policies; any changes in tax laws or
regulations, or adverse tax audit results or rulings; and the risks
and other factors discussed from time to time in our SEC filings.
Dividends declared from time to time on FirstEnergy Corp.'s common
stock during any period may in the aggregate vary from prior
periods due to circumstances considered by FirstEnergy Corp.'s
Board of Directors at the time of the actual declarations. A
security rating is not a recommendation to buy or hold securities
and is subject to revision or withdrawal at any time by the
assigning rating agency. Each rating should be evaluated
independently of any other rating. These forward-looking statements
are also qualified by, and should be read together with, the risk
factors included in FirstEnergy Corp.'s filings with the SEC,
including but not limited to the most recent Annual Report on Form
10-K and any subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current
Reports on Form 8-K. 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.