Distinguished careers with AEP of three senior leaders to come to an end in 2013

Steve Burge

Three senior vice presidents with a combined total of 89 years of service with AEP will be leaving in 2013.

Stephen W. Burge, senior vice president – Fossil & Hydro Generation, will leave the company Dec. 31, 2012, but will continue to serve as a part-time consultant to AEP Generation until March 31, 2013; Michael Heyeck, senior vice president – Transmission will retire June 1, 2013; and William L. Sigmon, senior vice president – Engineering, Projects & Field Services, will retire June 30, 2013. Each of these leaders have had distinguished careers in their respective fields.  Their current positions will not be filled as part of the overall corporate repositioning initiative.

“Steve, Mike and Bill have been tremendous assets to AEP during their years with the company and their expertise and wealth of experience will be sorely missed,” said Nick Akins, AEP’s president and chief executive officer. “I know I speak for the entire AEP family when I offer my heartfelt appreciation for all they have done to make AEP the industry leader that it is today.”

Burge has been responsible for the operation and maintenance of AEP’s approximately 36,000 MW of fossil and hydro generating facilities. Before assuming his current position, Burge was vice president – Generating Assets, AEP Ohio. He also served as vice president – Fossil and Hydro Operations and vice president – Western Generation Assets, responsible for Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) and Southwest Power Pool (SPP) Generation assets.

Mike Heyeck

He was region director in Generation from 1998 to 2003; and was plant manager from 1988 to 1997 at Tidd and Muskingum River plants. From 1972 to 1988 he worked in various plant operations and maintenance positions at Kammer, Mitchell and Cardinal plants.

Heyeck joined AEP in 1976. He spent most of his career in leadership and engineering positions in AEP Transmission, including business development, asset management, planning, engineering, design, project management, construction, operations, dispatching, technology development, and reliability compliance. He also held leadership positions in AEP’s Corporate Planning and Budgeting, including corporate budgeting and economic forecasting. In his current role, Heyeck has been responsible for field operations, reliability compliance, the interface with AEP’s operating companies and other customers for AEP’s 11-state transmission system, and officer and board positions for AEP affiliates and AEP Transmission’s joint ventures.

Heyeck currently serves the industry in numerous capacities, including transmission chairman of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Electricity Advisory Committee, president of the U.S. National Committee of the International Conference on Large High-Voltage Electric Systems (CIGRE), chairman of the Power Delivery & Utilization Council of the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), and member of the Board of Directors of the Reliability First Corporation, a regional entity of the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC).

Bill Sigmon

Sigmon, with over 40 years of experience in the industry, has served in several roles since joining AEP in 2000. He has led the Fossil/Hydro business unit and currently has responsibility for engineering, projects, construction and field services for Generation. Supporting the environmental program, new generation and our existing assets are key elements of the EP&FS responsibility.

Prior to joining AEP, Sigmon worked in numerous roles at Duke Energy including plant and corporate management, Duke Fluor Daniel and the unregulated businesses for Duke Energy North America and Duke Energy International.

Sigmon has also served in a number of industry and civic organizations. Industry committee assignments included chairman of the AEIC Generation Subcommittee, the executive committee of the EPRI Research Advisory Council, the Southeastern Electric Exchange and the Electric Power Supply Association. He has also served as Chairman of Central Ohio’s American Heart Association Board of Trustees.