TVA Names Chief Financial Officer

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Jun 01, 2010, 12:46 ET

KNOXVILLE, Tenn., June 1 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Tennessee Valley Authority has named John M. Thomas III as chief financial officer and Janet Herrin as executive vice president for People and Performance, TVA President and CEO Tom Kilgore announced Tuesday.

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Thomas, who has served in the newly created position of executive vice president for People and Performance since January, previously was TVA's controller. Herrin, who succeeds Thomas in the People and Performance role, has been serving as TVA's senior vice president for River Operations.

Thomas succeeds Kimberly Greene as chief financial officer since she moved to the newly created position of group president for Strategy and External Relations in January. Senior Vice President and Treasurer John M. Hoskins has been serving as interim chief financial officer since then.

"After an extensive nationwide search, we could find no candidate more qualified to lead TVA's financial operations than John Thomas," Kilgore said. "His expertise in the financial sector and the electricity utility business, along with his strong management talents, will serve TVA well in the years ahead."

Prior to being named controller, Thomas was general manager for Operations Business Services, where he was responsible for financial and performance reporting and budgeting for TVA's operations organizations including Nuclear Generation, Fossil Generation, River Operations, Power System Operations and Commercial Operations and Fuels.

Prior to joining TVA, Thomas was chief financial officer for Benson Security Systems of Gilbert, Ariz. He also has worked as controller for Progress Fuels Corp. and Progress Ventures Inc., both subsidiaries of Progress Energy of Raleigh, N.C. Thomas holds bachelor's degrees in accounting and business management from North Carolina State University in Raleigh.

As chief of the Office of People and Performance, Herrin, a TVA veteran of more than 30 years, will be responsible for building and maintaining the quality and effectiveness of TVA's work force, including personnel policies and operations, talent management, labor relations, TVA Police and other work force support functions.

As senior vice president for River Operations, Herrin has been responsible for operating and maintaining TVA's 29 hydroelectric dams, 20 non-power dams, one pumped-storage plant and 14 navigation locks, supporting TVA's mission of integrated management of rivers, reservoirs and other water resources across the region.

"Janet Herrin is one of TVA's most accomplished executives, both in technical operations and in motivating people to work together," Kilgore said. "Her knowledge of our business and leadership skills will serve TVA well in this new role."

Herrin began her TVA career in 1978 as a civil engineer and advanced from technical to management positions in several divisions of TVA. She holds master's degrees in business administration from the University of Tennessee and in civil engineering from Colorado State University at Fort Collins, and a bachelor's degree in mathematics and physics from Willamette University in Salem, Ore.

The Tennessee Valley Authority, a corporation owned by the U.S. government, provides electricity for utility and business customers in most of Tennessee and parts of Alabama, Mississippi, Kentucky, Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia – an area of 80,000 square miles with a population of 9 million. TVA operates 29 hydroelectric dams, 11 coal-fired power plants, three nuclear plants and 11 natural gas-fired power facilities and supplies up to 36,000 megawatts of electricity, delivered over 16,000 miles of high-voltage power lines. TVA also provides flood control, navigation, land management and recreation for the Tennessee River system and works with local utilities and state and local governments to promote economic development across the region. TVA, which makes no profits and receives no taxpayer money, is funded by sales of electricity to its customers. Electricity prices in TVA's service territory are below the national average.

SOURCE Tennessee Valley Authority