DULUTH, Minn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Robert P. Powers, recently retired vice chairman of American Electric Power (AEP), has joined ALLETE Inc.’s (NYSE: ALE) board of directors. He was elected by the board August 23, 2017.

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Robert P. Powers (Photo: ALLETE Inc.)

Powers’ career in the energy industry spans 41 years through his retirement in August 2017. He most recently served as a senior adviser to AEP’s chairman and as chief operating officer, overseeing operations in areas including AEP’s utility subsidiaries, regulated generation, competitive businesses, and physical and cyber security.

He also interacted frequently with AEP’s board of directors on business strategy, technology shifts, investment decisions, regulatory expectations and executive development. He joined AEP in 1998 as senior vice president and chief nuclear officer, and steadily took on roles of greater responsibility. AEP is one of the nation’s largest electric utilities, serving nearly 5.4 million customers in 11 states.

“We are excited to welcome Bob to the board,” said ALLETE chairman, president and CEO Al Hodnik. “His values align well with ALLETE’s, as seen in AEP’s steady gains in environmental performance, safety and reliability, all accomplished alongside a corresponding increase in shareholder value. His personal integrity, diverse utility experience and strategic leadership — operationally, in the boardroom, and before regulators and Wall Street — will be valuable assets as ALLETE pursues its growth strategy while answering the nation’s call to transform its energy and water landscape.”

Lead Director, Heidi Jimmerson stated, “The ALLETE board of directors is undergoing long-term succession planning, and Bob's election is the first step in that process. The entire board is excited to have Bob join us. We very much value not only his depth and breadth of experience in the utility industry but also his values and integrity.”

In addition to his positions at AEP, Powers also spent 16 years with Pacific Gas and Electric Co., rising to site vice president and plant manager at the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Generating Station, and six years with the Tennessee Valley Authority as a health physicist.

Powers earned a bachelor’s degree in biology at Tufts University and a Master of Science degree in radiological hygiene from the environmental sciences and engineering department of the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill. He has a national certification by the American Board of Health Physics, and earned senior reactor operator certification in 1991. In addition, he completed executive management programs run by the University of California – Berkeley and Duke University.

He is active in the Edison Electric Institute (EEI), and is the former chairman of the board for the Center for Energy Workforce Development (CEWD), an EEI organization focused on recruiting technical talent to utilities. Powers and his wife, Jan, live in Colorado and have three grown children.

Powers joins a best-practice governance board at ALLETE, including Hodnik, Lead Director Heidi E. Jimmerson (former executive vice president, secretary and general counsel at Florida East Coast Railway LLC) and directors Kathryn W. Dindo (retired vice president and chief risk officer for FirstEnergy Corp.), Sidney W. Emery Jr. (chief executive officer and owner of Supply Chain Services LLC), George G. Goldfarb (president and chief executive officer of Maurices Inc. and president and chief executive officer of the Value Fashion Segment of Ascena Retail Group Inc.), James S. Haines Jr. (former chief executive officer and director of Westar Energy Inc.), James J. Hoolihan (chief executive officer and chair of the board of Industrial Lubricant Co.), Madeleine W. Ludlow (founder and chair of the board of West Capital Advisors LLC), Douglas C. Neve (former executive vice president and chief financial officer of Ceridian Corp.) and Leonard C. Rodman (retired chairman, president and chief executive officer of Black & Veatch).

ALLETE Inc. (NYSE: ALE) is an energy company headquartered in Duluth, Minnesota. In addition to its electric utilities, Minnesota Power and Superior Water, Light and Power of Wisconsin, ALLETE owns ALLETE Clean Energy, based in Duluth; BNI Energy in Bismarck, North Dakota; and U.S. Water Services in St. Michael, Minnesota; and has an eight percent equity interest in the American Transmission Co. More information about ALLETE is available at www.allete.com. ALE-Corp

The statements contained in this release and statements that ALLETE may make orally in connection with this release that are not historical facts, are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties and investors are directed to the risks discussed in documents filed by ALLETE with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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