Sandra Pianalto to Conclude Service to FirstEnergy Board of Directors; Melvin Williams Nominated for Election at the 2021 Annual Meeting
AKRON, Ohio, March 29, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE: FE) today announced that Sandra Pianalto, a member of the company's Board of Directors since 2018, has decided not to stand for re-election at the company's 2021 Annual Meeting in order to focus on other commitments. The Board has nominated Melvin D. Williams for election at the company's 2021 Annual Meeting. These changes will maintain the size of the Board at 14 members.
"Sandy's counsel and financial expertise have been invaluable to FirstEnergy," said Donald T. Misheff, chairman of FirstEnergy's Board of Directors. "On behalf of the entire Board, I thank her for her service and contributions over the past few years and wish her well in the future."
"Melvin will bring to our Board and shareholders more than 32 years of utility experience, including a focus on regulatory matters, utility operations, and financial planning and analysis," Misheff added. "We are confident his significant industry knowledge and leadership experience, together with his long history as a champion of diversity and inclusion, will be a valuable addition to our Board as we continue to take steps to position FirstEnergy for long-term success and enhance value for shareholders."
"It has been an honor to serve on the FirstEnergy Board," Pianalto said. "I'm proud of the work we've accomplished to address recent challenges and of how the Board and the executive management team are working to advance FirstEnergy into a more resilient, industry-leading organization."
Pianalto, 66, serves on the Board's Compensation and Audit Committees. She retired in May 2014 as president and chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, a position she held since 2003. Prior to retiring, she also chaired the Federal Reserve's Financial Services Policy Committee. Pianalto is an executive in residence at the University of Akron and also serves as a director of Eaton Corporation plc, Prudential Financial, Inc. and The J.M. Smucker Company. She earned a master's degree in economics from The George Washington University and a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Akron. She is also a graduate of the Advanced Management Program at Duke University's Fuqua School of Business.
Williams, 57, retired in 2020 as president of Nicor Gas, a natural gas distribution company and subsidiary of the Southern Company, and senior vice president of Southern Company Gas, positions he held since 2015. He began his career at Southern Company Gas in 1989, and served in a wide range of leadership positions at the company and its subsidiaries, including senior vice president of planning and business services at Nicor Gas, and vice president and general manager at Atlanta Gas Light Company and Florida City Gas Company. Williams also served on the Southern Company Gas Leadership, Empowerment, Acceptance and Diversity Council and is the founding chairman of the Illinois Utilities Business Diversity Council, as well as a member of the Chicago chapter of the American Association of Blacks in Energy. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree from Savannah State University.
Editor's Note: Photos of Sandra Pianalto and Melvin Williams are available on Flickr.
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 24,500 miles of transmission lines that connect the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic regions. Follow FirstEnergy on Twitter @FirstEnergyCorp or online at www.firstenergycorp.com.
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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. The foregoing factors should not be construed as exhaustive and should be read in conjunction with the other cautionary statements and risks that are included in our 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.
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SOURCE FirstEnergy Corp.
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