AEP Retirees & Alumni

Not too long ago, if you wanted to set up a conference call or book certain AEP meeting rooms, you picked up the phone and called someone.

That helpful voice on the other end of the line belonged to Sue Warner.

Warner passed away in July, still on the job, and helping people, after 40 years.

For many long-tenured employees, Warner was the voice of AEP. If you called corporate headquarters needing to talk to someone, she answered the call. Her knowledge of employees was so encyclopedic she could often connect you with the right person even if all you had was a first name and some vague idea of what they did for the company.

“Sue was a very special person,” said Dodie Saunders, former executive administrative assistant-senior. “I worked with her many times during my career at AEP. You could feel her smile through the phone and whatever you needed she made happen!”

Sloat will be the 11th president and 7th CEO of AEP.

AEP’s Board of Directors has appointed Julie Sloat as president and chief financial officer, effective immediately. She has also been elected chief executive officer effective Jan. 1, 2023. Sloat is AEP’s 11th president and will become the seventh CEO in the company’s 116-year history. She is currently executive vice president and CFO, a position she has held since Jan. 1, 2021.

Nick Akins, chairman, president and chief executive officer, is stepping down as president as part of AEP’s executive succession plan and will end his term as CEO Dec. 31. He will become executive chair of the AEP Board and will remain an officer and employee of the company. He has been president and CEO since 2011 and chairman since 2014.

“Julie is an exceptional leader who has successfully led key strategic areas for the company,” Akins said. “Her financial expertise and positive relationship with investors have been essential for the execution of our long-term strategy, enabling us to deliver strong earnings quarter after quarter while continuing to raise guidance and provide consistent dividend growth. Her deep understanding of our business and industry, including her experience leading AEP Ohio and our regulatory team, will be critical as we continue to invest in new energy resources and grid enhancements that improve service and reliability, support a clean energy future and provide value to our customers, communities and investors.

“Julie’s engaging leadership style also will continue to enhance AEP’s culture. She is committed to the success of our employees, customers and the communities we serve and is passionate about fostering positive, mutually beneficial relationships inside and outside the company,” Akins said.

“Nick has transformed AEP during the 11 years that he has led the company. His focus on innovation, technology, and modernization of the grid and AEP’s generation fleet is enabling clean, reliable and resilient energy to fuel growth in the communities that AEP serves. He also has built an open, collaborative culture that embraces diversity, equity and inclusion,” said Sara Martinez Tucker, lead director of AEP’s Board.

“AEP is fortunate that Nick has focused on developing a group of strong and capable leaders to ensure the company’s continued success. Julie has demonstrated exemplary leadership skills at every stage of her career, and we are confident in her ability to lead this team. During her time as CFO, she has improved the financial performance of the company, and she also enhanced the performance and culture of AEP Ohio during the transition to competitive markets. The Board is confident that she is the right person to lead AEP during this dynamic time for the industry and the company,” Tucker said.

There will be no immediate changes to reporting structure. Sloat will continue reporting to Akins and a new CFO will be named before Jan. 1.

“This is a time of tremendous change and opportunity for our company as we invest in new energy technologies and infrastructure to provide clean and reliable energy for our 5.5 million customers,” Sloat said. “It’s an honor and privilege to have the opportunity to lead this amazing team of nearly 17,000 employees. I’ve seen first-hand your commitment to innovation, to supporting the communities we serve and to ensuring that our customers can count on us every day to power their lives and businesses. It’s an exciting time to be in this industry and to build on the 116-year legacy of AEP.”

Sloat has been executive vice president – chief financial officer since Jan. 1, 2021.  She previously served as senior vice president, Treasury and Risk, and president and chief operating officer of AEP Ohio.

Sloat has held several additional key leadership positions since joining the company in 1999, including senior vice president and treasurer; vice president, Regulatory Case Management; vice president, Treasurer and Investor Relations; and vice president, Investor Relations, Strategic Initiatives and Economic Forecasting.

In addition to her AEP career, Sloat was vice president of Corporate Finance and Investor relations at Tween Brands, a bank debt underwriter and buy side equity analyst at Bank One (JP Morgan). She also worked for M&T Mortgage, a subsidiary of M&T Bank Corp.

Sloat has a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with a double major in Finance and Economics and a Master of Business Administration from the Ohio State University. She completed the Nuclear Reactor Technology Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Sloat serves on the board of directors for Evoqua Water Technologies Corp. and as the chair of the board of directors for the James Cancer Hospital Foundation. She also serves on the board of Ohio Valley Electric Corp. and Pelotonia.

In the summer of 1982, a soon-to-be constructed power plant in Hallsville, Texas, offered the promise of opportunity for 30 young men eager to make their mark in the world.

These men joined SWEPCO as apprentice machinists for the H.W. Pirkey Power Plant. Their job entailed repairing and maintaining plant equipment and structures, a trade they learned together as Pirkey was built.

The experience bonded them, and they came to rely on each other for advice, assistance, and encouragement. Forty years later, 12 of these original 30 apprentices will be on hand for the plant’s final operation on March 31, 2023.

“We’ve had a lot of fun and challenging times together,” said Brent Ogden, now the plant’s maintenance superintendent. “We’re one big family, and I know we’ll continue to be lifelong friends even after the plant closes.”

Ogden, who transferred to Turk Power Plant in 2010, planned to retire in March 2022 but reconsidered when he was offered the chance to return to Pirkey for its final year of operation.

“There were several reasons I chose to come back,” he said. “But a big part of it was being with the guys I started with when the plant shuts down.”

Franklin’s Follies

In the early days, the group came to be known as Franklin’s Follies, a nod to their supervisor and later VP of Generation Paul Franklin, who guided their training and first steps in the industry.

“That’s what everyone labeled us because he had to raise a bunch of kids,” Ogden said with a laugh. “I was the oldest at 22.”

Some had heard about the job through family friends while others learned about it in trade classes.

“I was in a class learning how to do industrial electrical wiring when a counselor came in and told us SWEPCO wanted to hire 30 people to send to college to be machinists,” said Wade Hicks, a station machinist. “I’d never stepped foot in a machine shop, but it sounded like something that could be a lifelong career.”

Their first two years on the job were spent in the classroom. The apprentices had on-the-job instruction at a training building on the plant site, as well as machine shop classes at Kilgore College, where they learned drafting and technical physics, among other things.

“We were required to maintain an 85 average in all our classes,” said Ben Craig, maintenance supervisor. “In the summer, we would tear apart old gas plant pumps and check clearances and learn how to do maintenance on them.”

That knowledge transferred to the plant in the fall of 1984 when they began to test the new equipment.

“It was exciting knowing that we were putting this thing online,” Ogden said. “We didn’t know what to expect. At first it was overwhelming to see all this big equipment and know we were going to have to maintain it. But the more we worked on it, the more it became a challenge we took pride in.”

Working together

One of the most memorable of those challenges was the time they repaired a low-pressure (LP) rotor on the steam turbine a few months after the plant began commercial operation.

“We immediately went into doing something that had been planned for the annual warranty inspection,” Craig said. “It was a scramble to get it done, but we were ready.”

He said the thing that made the experience so exciting was that the LP rotor – which rotates the turbine blades – had been off limits during their training days.

“Everyone was eager to tear into this thing because we couldn’t even get near it before,” he said.

Maintenance Supervisor Ricky Morris said they learned a lot from that repair, and it was an experience that helped them navigate future maintenance on LP rotors.

“We got where we could probably pull those blades off with our eyes closed,” he said.

But for Morris, the best memories occurred in the boiler.

He said a tube leak in the boiler could cause quite a bit of damage as it wasn’t detected until an operator heard it.

“Today, we’ve got acoustic monitoring systems that picks those up really quick, but back then, we relied on operators to hear them,” he said. “By the time you got in there, it was a pretty good size wreck, and we’d be in there for a week. It was hard work, but you’d carry on conversations, and we made a lot of good memories inside the boiler.”

Closing a chapter

Throughout the years, these men saw a lot of changes in not just plant maintenance but their own lives.

They started families, gained promotions, and celebrated milestones together over the years.

“Now, we’re the old dogs around the yard,” Craig said. “Not a day goes by that someone comes up with a question, and we say go ask Larry (Garrison), Keith (Bynum) or Ronnie (McBride). SWEPCO did a good a job of hiring good people. Looking back and knowing what we achieved together, it’s remarkable.”

In his youth, Dave Callahan saw a future as a professional singer. At age 16 he joined a choir that toured Europe and later studied vocal music education at Heidelberg University.

With careers in the arts limited, Callahan began considering other jobs to help pay the bills. He did electrical work during the summer months and, after a stint as a full-time electrician, he started his career as a line mechanic-D at the Canton South Service Center in 1981.

Forty years later, Callahan is retiring from AEP Ohio. He spent about 20 years as a dispatcher (in Canton) and a dispatching trainer (in Columbus) before being named mutual assistance coordinator in 2004. That experience helped lay the groundwork for his current job as emergency preparedness manager, which he started in 2016.

We talked with Callahan about his career and his plans after he leaves July 6.

What’s your best memory from your time with AEP Ohio?

Doing mutual assistance I got to go to a lot of neat places and meet people from all across the United States. I was able to see and learn from utilities outside AEP. Other than that I will remember all the people I have worked with over the years.

You’ve become a professional storm watcher. Any tips for the amateurs out there?

It’s all about the history and understanding what’s happened before. It’s getting the feel for how weather affects each location across Ohio. I’m studying the weather daily – you have to dig in a little bit and watch the wind charts. In my work I was able to meet with meteorologists and that helped me a lot. Here’s what you need to know: Wind drives our weather.

When a storm hit you were on 24/7. How are you going to spend that time during the next big storm?

When a storm hits I’m going to sit back and watch it and not worry about it. I’m looking forward to not being on the phone so much. My daughter likes to say that it wouldn’t be a holiday unless Dad is on a conference call.

You blossomed into a media star during your time here. What’s the secret to your on-camera gravitas?

Number one, I was knowledgeable about the questions reporters asked me. I knew what I was talking about, I knew the plan. That made it easier. Also, my past music history of performing in front of crowd, of being on stage in front of a thousand people, that’s no big deal to me.

Oh and the fact that I didn’t get a choice helped, too! I was in Grove City after the tornado hit and no one was there to do interviews so they put in front of the camera. The rest is history.

OK, so you’re a good singer – what’s your karaoke go-to?

I don’t know, maybe “Hooked on a Feeling”? Musically I’m probably more inclined to classical stuff, like church hymns or an Italian aria. My wife and I are also into Irish trad music.

Any tips for AEP Ohio’s younger workforce?

It doesn’t matter whether you’re talking to someone at the highest or lowest level of the company – treat everyone the same. You may have your way to do something but that’s not the only way to do it. Everyone works differently. Swallow your pride a little bit and go with the flow.

What are you most looking forward to in your retirement?

I’m looking forward to spending more time with family and my grandkids. My wife and I are moving into our family’s 44-acre family farm in Navarre right next to my daughter and there’s a lot of work to be done on that house. I’ll also do some woodworking, and we have some little trips planned to see the bourbon distilleries in Kentucky. So I’ll stay busy.

AEP announced today that Raja Sundararajan, currently senior vice president, Regulatory and Customer Solutions, will become the company’s executive vice president , External Affairs when Charles Patton retires July 1. He will report to Nick Akins, chairman, president and chief executive officer.

“Charles’ leadership and contributions have been a critical part of our success during his 27 years with the company. He led two different operating companies and held several other key leadership positions, approaching every challenge with thoughtfulness and a collaborative leadership style,” Akins said. “Charles has deftly guided his teams as they have offered new services to customers, achieved positive outcomes with regulators and policy makers, and enhanced the support we offer our customers and communities. We wish him all the best during his well-deserved retirement.”

Sundararajan will lead AEP’s communications and marketing, customer, regulatory, federal public policy, and Ohio government affairs groups. These individuals will report to him:

• Phil Dion, vice president and interim Chief Customer Officer
• Maria Haberman, managing director, Ohio Governmental Affairs
• Anthony P. Kavanagh, senior vice president, Governmental Affairs
• Melissa McHenry, senior vice president, Communications and Marketing
• Matthew Satterwhite, vice president, Regulatory Services.

“Raja brings a wealth of experience to the executive leadership team,” Akins said. “He has demonstrated a keen understanding of the unique regulatory and policy challenges of our industry during his nearly two decades with AEP, holding key leadership roles in commercial operations, corporate finance, regulatory and transmission. He also served as president of AEP Ohio. Raja’s array of experiences and his technical expertise will provide valuable insights as we continue our transition to a clean energy future.”

Sundararajan joined AEP in 2002. His most recent prior role was as president and chief operating officer for AEP Ohio. He has also served as vice president, Regulatory Services, leading AEP’s regulatory activities before state commissions and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. He was also vice president, Transmission Asset Strategy and Policy; managing director, Transmission Business Strategy; managing director of Market Risk; and has held management positions in Treasury and Corporate Finance.

Sundararajan has a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology. He also has a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Maryland, a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Michigan and he completed the Executive MBA program at the University of Virginia. Sundararajan serves as a board member of the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium and United Way of Central Ohio.

The Women’s International Network of Utility Professionals (WiNUP) Annual Conference will be held in Little Rock, Arkansas. Many development opportunities are offered to attendees through the annual conference, which is supported in part by AEP.

As a presenting sponsor of the conference, six AEP employees / retirees will be awarded free conference registration. Winners of the free registrations will be responsible for all other expenses, including travel and hotel.

• Your completed application must be received by June 24, 2022. Winners will be notified by June 30, 2022.
• Applicants must be a current AEP employee or AEP retiree.
• You do not need to be a WiNUP member to apply.
• Applicants must have approval to attend the conference before submitting the application if not using personal time.

More conference highlights and hotel information are available at WINUP.org.

If you are interested, please complete and submit the application: C-1 2022 conf sponsorship application updated (002)

WiNUP is an association dedicated to providing professional development, networking and mentoring for women in the utility and energy industries.  Founded as the Electrical Women’s Roundtable in New York in 1923, WiNUP currently has more than 600 members.