Chesapeake Utilities Corporation Announces Officer Appointments

DOVER, Del., Aug. 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- John R. Schimkaitis, Vice Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Chesapeake Utilities Corporation (NYSE: CPK), announced that the Board of Directors appointed Matthew Kim to Assistant Vice President of the Company at their meeting yesterday. In addition, Kevin J. Webber and Jeffrey S. Sylvester have been appointed to Vice Presidents of Florida Public Utilities Company (FPU); and Sean Garguilo has been appointed to Assistant Vice President of BravePoint®. These appointments are effective immediately.

"These appointments reflect continued strengthening of our leadership team, both at a corporate level and within our subsidiaries," said Schimkaitis. "The appointments reflect the Board and the senior management team's appreciation of their contributions to the Company, and confidence in their continuing leadership and contributions in the future."

Matthew Kim's appointment to Assistant Vice President of the Company reflects the expertise and contributions that he has made since joining Chesapeake in 2009. "The recent merger with Florida Public Utilities required us to move quickly to integrate systems and financial reporting processes across both FPU and Chesapeake," said Michael P. McMasters, President and Chief Operating Officer of Chesapeake. "While much remains to be done, Matt's oversight of these areas and his technical knowledge have been instrumental to our success in the integration of our systems and processes."

Mr. Kim joined Chesapeake in March 2009 as Controller overseeing all business unit accounting and financial reporting processes within the Company. In addition, he has responsibility for the development, communication and implementation of accounting and tax policies and procedures within the Company. Prior to joining the Company, Mr. Kim was a Vice President and Assistant Controller for The Carlyle Group, a global private equity firm based in Washington, D.C., where he managed the U.S. corporate accounting team responsible for maintaining approximately 50 ledgers. Prior to joining The Carlyle Group, Mr. Kim was employed by PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP, where he held the position of Senior Manager.

Kevin Webber will direct Florida Public Utilities' overall sales and marketing efforts and its natural gas and propane operations in his position as FPU Vice President of Business Development and Gas Operations. "Kevin brings solid operational management skills, a great sense of how to position companies to take advantage of market opportunities, and a national view of the energy industry that will be a tremendous asset for our Florida operations and throughout the corporation," said Mr.  McMasters.  

With more than twenty-five years of utility and energy experience, Mr. Webber comes to Chesapeake from TECO Energy where, over the past ten years, he served in several management positions, most recently as General Manager of TECO Partners (an unregulated sales and marketing affiliate) and Director of Sales and Marketing for Tampa Electric. Prior to his time with TECO Energy, Mr. Webber held several operations and marketing positions in NUI Corporation's natural gas utilities in Florida and North Carolina. Mr. Webber has played an active role in numerous state and national energy associations. He serves on the Board of the Florida Natural Gas Association, is active on several Southern Gas Association and American Gas Association committees, and is a founding Board member of the National Council for Responsible Energy.

Jeff Sylvester's promotion to FPU Vice President of Customer Care is the result of his focus on process improvements, his technical knowledge, and his experience and contributions throughout multiple areas of the Company. "Jeff has taken on positions of increasing complexity and responsibility for the Company and performed in an outstanding manner in each assignment," noted Mr. McMasters. "Over the past several months, he has played a key role in the post-merger integration process to combine our Central Florida Gas and Florida Public Utilities operations. Of particular importance has been his oversight of the customer information and billing system conversion in Florida and the creation of a statewide Customer Care organizational unit," he added. "In his new role, I am certain that Jeff will continue to make significant contributions to our efforts to grow the Company's business in Florida."        

Over the past six years, Mr. Sylvester successfully directed Chesapeake's corporate Business Analysis group and IT Department; served as General Manager of Peninsula Energy Services Company, Inc., Chesapeake's unregulated gas marketing affiliate; and most recently, held the position of Assistant Regional Manager for Florida Operations. Prior to joining Chesapeake, Mr. Sylvester spent the first ten years of his career in various finance roles at Plantronics, GTE Data Services, and ThruPoint, a start-up IT consulting company.

As Assistant Vice President of Sales, Sean Garguilo, will be involved in all of BravePoint's technical and sales services including product development. "Sean has been a guiding force in BravePoint's sales efforts over the years and will be an integral part of the execution of BravePoint's strategic plan, including oversight of the sales function for current products as well as future product development initiatives," stated Mr. McMasters.

Mr. Garguilo has served as BravePoint's Director of Sales for the Progress Division since 2008. He joined BravePoint in 1998 as a Technical Recruiter and has held various sales related positions over the years. He has been instrumental in helping to develop and launch BravePoint's successful Managed Database and Business Intelligence practices.

FPU and BravePoint are wholly owned subsidiaries of Chesapeake Utilities Corporation. Headquartered in West Palm Beach, Florida, FPU distributes natural gas, propane and electric services to approximately 100,000 customers in growing markets throughout Florida. Operating from Norcross, Georgia, BravePoint provides domestic and international customers with a comprehensive suite of technology-related business services and solutions, including managed database administration services, consulting, training and application development for both enterprise and e-business applications.

Chesapeake Utilities Corporation is a diversified utility company engaged in natural gas distribution, transmission and marketing; electric distribution; propane gas distribution and wholesale marketing; advanced information services and other related services. Information about Chesapeake's businesses is available on the World Wide Web at www.chpk.com.

SOURCE Chesapeake Utilities Corporation