American Electric Power (AEP) has replaced its CEO with the former chief of fellow US utility Xcel Energy while the search for a permanent leader is underway.
Ben Fowke has been appointed interim CEO and president at AEP, effective immediately. Fowke had served as chairman and CEO at Xcel Energy for ten years before retiring from the role in August 2021.
He replaces Julie Sloat, who had held the top role at AEP for just over a year.
AEP stated that the board’s decision to replace her was “not a result of any disagreement with Sloat regarding AEP’s operations, policies or financial performance, and was not made for cause or related to any ethical or compliance concern”.
The board has now engaged a “leading executive search firm” to carry out an external search for a permanent CEO, AEP added.
It has also appointed its lead director, Sara Martinez Tucker, as its new chair.
AEP owns stakes in nearly 2.8GW of operational onshore wind farms across the US, according to “uåX˜äŠÊ˜·³Ç Intelligence, the research and data division of “uåX˜äŠÊ˜·³Ç.
It has customers in Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia.
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