COLUMBUS, Ohio, July 2, 2003 - Joseph Hamrock has been named senior vice president and chief information officer for American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP). He had served as AEP’s senior vice president - general services since 2002.

Hamrock, 40, will oversee the company’s information technology (IT) efforts.

“Joe’s leadership will be key to the evolution of IT within the corporation as we continue to drive significant performance improvement initiatives,” said Tom Hagan, AEP’s executive vice president - shared services.

Hamrock, who reports to Hagan, joined AEP in 1986 at Steubenville, Ohio, as an electrical engineer in transmission and distribution planning. He also was a supervisor in commercial marketing and customer services, served as director - strategic development, and was executive assistant to E. Linn Draper Jr., AEP’s chairman, president and chief executive officer.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Youngstown (Ohio) State University and a master’s degree in business administration from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he was a Sloan Fellow.

American Electric Power owns and operates more than 42,000 megawatts of generating capacity in the United States and select international markets and is the largest electricity generator in the U.S. AEP is also one of the largest electric utilities in the United States, with almost 5 million customers linked to AEP’s 11-state electricity transmission and distribution grid. The company is based in Columbus, Ohio.