American Electric Power announced the appointment of Charles E. Zebula as executive vice president, effective immediately. Zebula previously served as AEP's executive vice president, Portfolio Optimization. He succeeds Ann P. Kelly, who is departing the company.

About Charles E. Zebula: Zebula, 63, has served in key leadership roles of increasing responsibility during his 25-year career at AEP. Since July 2021, he has been executive vice president ? Portfolio Optimization, responsible for identifying and executing AEP's corporate strategic initiatives.

Previously, Zebula served as executive vice president ? Energy Supply, senior vice president ? Investor Relations and Treasurer, and numerous other positions at AEP and its subsidiaries.

He has been responsible for significant strategic actions to de-risk and simplify AEP's business profile over the past decade. This includes overseeing the $550 million sale of AEP River Operations in 2015, a $2.1 billion sale of four competitive power plants in 2017 and jointly overseeing the $1.5 billion sale of AEP's unregulated renewables portfolio earlier this year. Prior to joining AEP in 1998, Zebula was a senior associate for Putman, Hayes & Bartlett, an economic and management consulting firm in Washington, D.C. He also worked as a process engineer serving several industries at ICF Kaiser Engineers and GAF Corporation.

Zebula earned a bachelor's degree in mining engineering and a master's degree in mineral processing from the Pennsylvania State University. He also received a master's degree in industrial administration from Carnegie Mellon University.