COLUMBUS, Ohio, Feb. 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Mark C. McCullough has been named senior vice president, Fossil and Hydro Generation for American Electric Power . He has been AEP's vice president, Fossil and Hydro Generation - Baseload Assets since 2003.
McCullough succeeds Bill Sigmon, who was named AEP's senior vice president, Engineering, Projects and Field Services, Nov. 1, 2007.
"Mark's depth of experience in generation operations and his level of interaction with Commercial Operations, outage planning, and strategic planning for our generation assets will provide tremendous value to AEP and our utility operating companies," said Nick Akins, AEP's executive vice president, Generation. "We look forward to Mark providing the leadership necessary to further enhance the value of AEP's generation fleet."
In his new position, McCullough will be responsible for AEP's fleet of approximately 36,000 megawatts (MW) of fossil and hydro generation. He will also oversee plant engineering and environmental services, asset and outage planning, and technical skills and process optimization.
McCullough will report to Akins. A replacement for McCullough as vice president, Fossil and Hydro Generation - Base Load Assets will be named later.
McCullough, 48, has worked his entire career at AEP. He joined the company in 1981 at AEP's Tanners Creek Plant in Lawrenceburg, Ind. He held a variety of positions at Tanners Creek, including maintenance superintendent and operation superintendent, before being named assistant plant manager at AEP's Amos Plant in St. Albans, W.Va., in 1994. From 1995 to 1997, McCullough was manager, Northern Region Service Organization, responsible for the management of scheduled outages and major project work for more than 10,000 MW of coal- fueled generation. In 1997, he was named manager, strategic planning, Power Generation, leading the AEP Generation merger team and developing, coordinating and tracking strategic initiatives for AEP's Power Generation Group. McCullough was named region director, Region 2, Wholesale Generation with responsibility for AEP's generation in Ohio and West Virginia in 2000. He was named region director - Ohio, Unregulated Generation in 2002 and then became vice president, Fossil and Hydro Generation - Baseload Assets.
McCullough has a bachelor of science in mechanical engineering from Rose Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, Ind. He and his family live in Pickerington, Ohio, where he coaches youth sports.
American Electric Power is one of the largest electric utilities in the United States, delivering electricity to more than 5 million customers in 11 states. AEP ranks among the nation's largest generators of electricity, owning more than 38,000 megawatts of generating capacity in the U.S. AEP also owns the nation's largest electricity transmission system, a nearly 39,000-mile network that includes more 765 kilovolt extra-high voltage transmission lines than all other U.S. transmission systems combined. AEP's transmission system directly or indirectly serves about 10 percent of the electricity demand in the Eastern Interconnection, the interconnected transmission system that covers 38 eastern and central U.S. states and eastern Canada, and approximately 11 percent of the electricity demand in ERCOT, the transmission system that covers much of Texas. AEP's utility units operate as AEP Ohio, AEP Texas, Appalachian Power (in Virginia and West Virginia), AEP Appalachian Power (in Tennessee), Indiana Michigan Power, Kentucky Power, Public Service Company of Oklahoma, and Southwestern Electric Power Company (in Arkansas, Louisiana and east Texas). AEP's headquarters are in Columbus, Ohio.
