COLUMBUS: American Municipal Power, Inc. (AMP) announced today that Pam Sullivan has been named executive vice president of power supply and generation, and Jolene Thompson has been named executive vice president of member services and external affairs. The organization also announced that Senior Vice President and General Counsel, John W. Bentine, Esq., has elected to retire from full-time work with the organization effective January 2017.
In her expanded role, Pam Sullivan will provide oversight to power supply and marketing services, generation operations, and transmission. This includes leading the company’s energy trading floor, commodity procurement, power supply planning, transmission planning, regional transmission organization affairs, generation development, energy marketing, as well as marketing AMP’s various power supply projects and programs to its 132 member communities.
Since joining the organization in 2003, Pam, has served in a variety of posts including her most recent position as senior vice president of marketing and operations. She has been a key player in the development of the generation projects currently underway at AMP. She has also served as the principal liaison to communities participating in the various projects.
Before joining AMP, Sullivan was vice president of marketing for SFT, a consulting engineering firm, where she was responsible for developing and implementing marketing plans and strategies, as well as providing project management services for municipal electric utility transmission/distribution projects. She also served as city electrical engineer for the AMP member community of Napoleon, Ohio. Sullivan holds a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from the University of Toledo.
In her expanded role, Jolene Thompson will provide oversight to government relations, technical services, environmental affairs, business operations, human resources and member programs. This includes leading the organization’s environmental, safety and North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) compliance activities, legislative and regulatory affairs, human resources and talent management, media and public relations, energy efficiency and sustainability, training, engineering services, facilities oversight and business development.
Thompson has been with AMP since 1990 and worked in various roles. She has advocated with state and federal policymakers on behalf of AMP and its members, as well as leading the environmental permitting and public relations teams that worked on generation projects under development by AMP in multiple states. She headed up the launch of the $26-million Efficiency Smart program for AMP members, and has overseen human resource and benefit program updates.
Thompson is active nationally and currently serves on the American Public Power Association (APPA) Board of Directors and as the legislative committee chair of the Transmission Access Policy Study (TAPS) Group Board of Directors. She is a recipient of APPA’s Harold Kramer-John Preston Personal Service Award. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from Otterbein University.
Sullivan and Thompson both have been and will continue to be members of the organization’s Executive Management Team and Risk Management Committee.
“Pam and Jolene are instrumental to the success of AMP and every single one of our members,” AMP President and CEO Marc Gerken, PE said. “I am confident they will continue to demonstrate exemplary leadership to serve AMP’s members and advance our mission.”
John W. Bentine, Esq. has served as general counsel for AMP and the OMEA since 1981. He joined AMP full-time in 2012, serving as senior vice president/general counsel. Bentine is an ex-officio member of the AMP Board of Trustees. His retirement will be effective in January 2017.
Bentine was with the Columbus law firm of Chester, Willcox and Saxbe LLP from 1991 to 2012, serving as managing partner and chairing the firm’s management committee from 1997 to 2008. The firm merged with Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP in January 2012. AMP continues to use the Taft firm as its primary outside counsel. As senior vice president, Bentine oversees all aspects of the organization’s legal obligations.
“John is a highly valued leader in the AMP community and has been key to the growth and overall success of the organization,” said Gerken. “He will be active during 2016 completing several critical initiatives and we will continue to benefit from his expertise after his retirement in a consulting capacity.”
“It’s time,” Bentine said, “one of our key objectives when I joined AMP full time was to prepare for my succession, and that plan was approved by the AMP Board in March of last year. I cherish the relationships I have made in the AMP community and am proud to have contributed to the advancement of public power,” he continued. “I am also proud of the smart, capable and talented professionals, such as Deputy General Counsels Rachel Gerrick and Lisa McAlister, that we now have in our in house legal department. Marc and I are confident they will provide strong legal leadership to AMP into the future,” he said.
AMP also promoted three long-time employees to Vice President. Michael Beirne who has been with AMP since 1998 has been named Vice President of External Affairs, Michael Migliore who has been with AMP since 1989 has been named Vice President of Power Supply and Marketing, and Michelle Palmer PE who has been with AMP since 1999 has been named Vice President of Technical Services.
“AMP is committed to succession planning at every level of the organization,” said Gerken. “The organization and its Board of Trustees have developed a strategic approach for its succession planning to ensure that the organization is well-positioned for the future.“
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