The leadership team for the newly restructured Public Service Company of Oklahoma was named today by Stuart Solomon, PSO president and chief operating officer.  The new team is responsible for PSO’s distribution operations, customer services, and external affairs across the company’s Oklahoma service territory, as part of the company’s emphasis on continuous improvements in electric distribution reliability and customer service.
 
Solomon’s new leadership team includes Preston Kissman, vice president, Distribution Operations; Bill McKamey, vice president, External Affairs; Bobby Mouser, director, Customer Services & Marketing; Alan Decker, director, Regulatory Services; and Andrea Chancellor, general manager, Corporate Communications.  Additional positions that will also report to Solomon in the new PSO organization will be announced later.

"This new leadership team will oversee the creation of a strong regional operations at Public Service Company of Oklahoma as we localize decision-making on issues that affect our customers and our external stakeholders,” Solomon said. 

Solomon also announced that the PSO President’ s Office, along with Mouser, Kissman and Chancellor will be located in Tulsa, where PSO has its headquarters.   Decker will be located in Oklahoma City, and McKamey will have offices both in Oklahoma City and Tulsa.

Last month, American Electric Power, the parent of PSO, announced it was restructuring PSO into a local operating company.   The new PSO region includes all of PSO’s more than 500,000 customers in the state of Oklahoma.

"This team will have the authority and latitude to address customer concerns and to identify and implement solutions locally, especially as they relate to electric service operations and on issues that involve our stakeholders and the communities we serve,“ Solomon said.

While the PSO team will be responsible for a wide range of customer and regulatory relationships locally, AEP will continue to direct power generation, electric transmission, distribution dispatch, customer call centers and support services to ensure efficiencies from a centralized standpoint.

"Our goal at PSO is to continue to improve customer service and reliability, while focusing on ways to improve processes that support these functions. Already, PSO has made a number of changes over the past 18 months in customer service, reliability and safety,” Solomon said. “I’m proud of these efforts, but we must focus on ways to continue these improvements for the benefit of our customers, as well as strengthen relationships with key external stakeholders such as our regulators, legislators and community leaders,” Solomon said.  “Our plan is to continue these improvements through this reorganization, under the direction of this leadership  team.”

“The new PSO leadership team already has many years of experience working in various PSO management functions and on issues with our customers across the state of Oklahoma.”

Kissman, vice president, PSO Distribution Operations, will return to Tulsa, having recently served as AEP vice president, distribution region coordination in Columbus, Ohio.  Previously, he had served in various senior level positions at PSO.  In addition to electric service distribution operations, he will direct PSO engineering and design functions.

McKamey was PSO’s General Manager, Community Affairs.  As vice president for  External Affairs, he will manage from a strategic standpoint PSO’s governmental relations and environmental affairs functions, as well as the company’s long-standing relationships in communities the company serves across the state and PSO’s economic development activities.

As PSO director of Customer Services and Marketing, Mouser will oversee customer account management and field meter operations.  Previously, he was PSO manager, customer services in the Tulsa area.

As director of Regulatory Services, Decker, will manage PSO’s regulatory activities at the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, including filings and regulatory proceedings.

As General Manager, Corporate Communications, Chancellor will plan and implement PSO’s news media relations, public relations, issues development, local advertising and local support of AEP’s employee-driven political action committee. She also will serve as communications consultant for senior managers at the state and regional level, while ensuring communications coordination between business units and within Corporate Communications at AEP in Columbus.

The organizational changes are effective immediately.

PSO is an electric utility company serving more than 500,000 customers in eastern and southwestern Oklahoma.  Based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, PSO has more than 4,000 megawatts of generating capacity and offers some of the lowest energy prices in the United States.

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.