COLUMBUS, Ohio, March 11, 2019 – American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP) has named Gary O. Spitznogle vice president, Environmental Services. He will succeed John M. McManus, senior vice president, Environmental Services, who is retiring later this year.
In this role, Spitznogle will be responsible for directing the development of environmental policy, assuring compliance and overseeing environmental support services for AEP’s generation and energy delivery facilities. He will report to Paul Chodak, executive vice president, Generation. Spitznogle has served as managing director of coal combustion residual management for AEP since December 2015. He previously served as vice president, Regulatory and Finance for AEP Ohio for three years.
“Gary has been a leader in AEP’s environmental performance, research and development, and policy activities related to power generation for many years. He is well positioned to take that experience and expertise and expand it to all of AEP’s environmental programs,” Chodak said.
“John has set a high bar through his focus on environmental stewardship and stakeholder engagement,” Chodak said. “He is well known and respected across the industry and in Washington for his work on environmental policy issues, and we will miss his expertise immensely. We wish John and his family all the best in retirement.”
Spitznogle, 49, joined AEP in 1997 at Conesville Generating Station. He moved to the AEP Service Corporation where he has held a variety of positions, including several related to research and development activities to improve the environmental performance of AEP’s power generation. He played instrumental roles in AEP’s projects to pursue integrated gasification combined cycle and carbon capture and storage technologies. Spitznogle has served as technical lead on state and federal public policy issues pertaining to power generation and carbon dioxide emissions reduction.
He currently serves on the advisory board for the Ohio State Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and is an active member of the Department of Energy’s Fossil Energy strategic advisory committee. He has participated on the Carnegie Mellon University Electric Industry Center Advisory Committee and has been a contributor with the National Coal Council and World Resources Institute.
Spitznogle holds a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering with an environmental option from The Ohio State University. He is the 2014 Ohio State University College of Engineering Texnikoi Outstanding Alumni Award recipient and has completed the AEP Strategic Leadership Program at Ohio State.
American Electric Power, based in Columbus, Ohio, is focused on building a smarter energy infrastructure and delivering new technologies and custom energy solutions to our customers. AEP’s approximately 18,000 employees operate and maintain the nation’s largest electricity transmission system and more than 219,000 miles of distribution lines to efficiently deliver safe, reliable power to nearly 5.4 million regulated customers in 11 states. AEP also is one of the nation’s largest electricity producers with approximately 32,000 megawatts of diverse generating capacity, including 4,300 megawatts of renewable energy. AEP’s family of companies includes utilities 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, east Texas and the Texas Panhandle). AEP also owns AEP Energy, AEP Energy Partners, AEP OnSite Partners and AEP Renewables, which provide innovative competitive energy solutions nationwide.
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