MARY POWELL DESIGNATED AS GREEN MOUNTAIN POWER'S
NEXT PRESIDENT AND CEO
----- CEO Chris Dutton to retire August 2008 ----
COLCHESTER, VT.December 4, 2007.. Mary G. Powell, 47, will become Green Mountain Power's next
President and Chief Executive Officer in August 2008 when CEO Chris Dutton retires after 11
years leading the Vermont electric utility, it was announced today.
"We are extremely pleased that Mary Powell will succeed Chris Dutton as Green Mountain
Power's new CEO, thus bringing to fruition a leadership transition plan started five years ago,"
said Robert Tessier, Chair of the Green Mountain Power Board of Directors.
"Mary has been a key driver in the restructuring of Green Mountain Power from a traditional
electric utility to a high performing company that is now noted for using technology to drive
customer satisfaction and to produce consistently strong financial results," Mr. Tessier said in
making known the GMP Board's choice for a new CEO.
With her promotion to the CEO position, Ms. Powell will become a member of the Green
Mountain Power Board of Directors. Mr. Dutton will remain as a member of the Board following
his retirement as CEO.
Ms. Powell joined Green Mountain Power in 1998 after experience as a business owner and in
business management at the executive level in both the public and private sector.
"I am ready and eager for this new leadership challenge to continue to create customer value and
to build on the work that I have done in my 10-year association with Chris Dutton," Ms. Powell
said. "My focus will be further building and leveraging a strong technology platform for
customer delivery in order to provide superior and reliable electric service in a world that is more
complex and that demands a lighter environmental footprint. The effective replacement of our
Hydro Quebec and Vermont Yankee contracts is a key focus of our leadership team and will be
one of the most important decisions we make for our customers in the next decade. We plan to
do that in a way that balances the needs of all stakeholders, including the climate."
Mr. Dutton, 59, said he was delighted that an executive development and leadership transition
process begun in 2002 has resulted in Mary's elevation as GMP's new CEO.
"Mary Powell is quite simply one of the most talented and innovative leaders I have ever met.
She is fearless as she embraces change and new thinking. Mary will lead Green Mountain Power
with distinction and her strong common sense and clear thinking will also be an important
leadership voice for Vermont," Mr. Dutton predicted.
In announcing the future Green Mountain Power leadership, Mr. Tessier said that it was the
impressive results under Chris Dutton's 11-year tenure as CEO that brought GMP to the
attention of Gaz Metro, the Montreal-based gas distribution utility that acquired GMP earlier this
year.
"The work that Chris and his team have done in Vermont is the kind of management and
leadership approach that we want as Gaz Metro seeks to expand its footprint in the Northeast
United States," Mr. Tessier said.
"We know that with Mary Powell as Green Mountain Power's CEO, we have the next
generation of leadership that fulfills our long-term strategies," Mr. Tessier added.
During Ms. Powell's tenure at Green Mountain Power, the 92,000-customer electric distribution,
transmission and utility services utility has developed three core business values: delivering
safe, fast and effective service; being environmentally responsible; and being profitable.
Green Mountain Power has been recognized for its corporate responsibility, as one of the best
places to work in Vermont, for its safe work environment, and in March 2003 Business Week
magazine listed GMP on its list of top-performing small-cap companies.
In February 2004, Ms. Powell was recognized by Fast Company magazine as one of the top fifty
business leaders in the United States for the work she led reinventing a traditional utility
company.
Prior to joining Green Mountain Power, Ms. Powell most recently served as Senior Vice
President of Community Banking for KeyBank in Vermont. Prior to escaping to the Green
Mountains, Ms. Powell worked for The Reserve Fund in New York City as the Associate
Director of Operations. She also worked in the Human Resources Department for the State of
Vermont.
Ms. Powell lives in South Hero with her husband and daughter.
Green Mountain Power (www.greenmountainpower.biz) is an electric utility owned by Northern
New England Energy Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Gaz Métro, a leading Québec
energy company with a long history of investment in Vermont. Green Mountain Power
transmits, distributes and sells electricity and utility construction services in the State of Vermont
in a service territory with approximately one quarter of Vermont's population. It serves
approximately 92,000 customers.
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