BANGOR — Emera Maine announced several changes in its executive leadership. In keeping with the company’s mission of growing and developing leaders, Alan Richardson became president and chief operating officer effective, May 15.
Richardson has more than 28 years of industry experience within the Emera family of companies. He joined the Emera Maine executive team in September 2012 as vice president of sustainability and in April of 2014 was appointed vice president of transmission. He has been a key contributor to the operational and financial success of Emera Maine, cultivating a formal relationship with Central Maine Power to develop transmission and significantly advancing the efforts to solve the reliability issue in Northern Maine.
“I believe we have an excellent team of people at Emera Maine,” said Richardson. “Together, we will continue our commitment to provide safe, reliable, efficient electric service to our customers well into the future.”
Meanwhile, Gerry Chasse is leaving the role as president and chief operating officer of Emera Maine to take on a new role leading Emera’s effort to modernize the Emera affiliate grids through the implementation of smart grid technologies and the advancement and electrification of transportation and heating. His role will also include the development of strategies to manage the increased load on the grid through its efficient utilization. The focus of his role is to identify investments that drive value for customers. While Chasse’s new role will involve working with utilities across Emera, he will remain at Emera Maine, supporting his successor through this transition, and serving as vice chair of the Emera Maine Board of Directors.
In addition, Kim Wadleigh, former vice president of operations, assumes the role of vice president of smart grid strategy, reporting to Chasse. In this role she will focus on the development of an Emera enterprise-wide smart grid strategy. Wadleigh has extensive experience in information technology and smart grid. In Emera Maine’s Bangor Hydro District, she led the deployment of the two-way power line carrier Automated Metering Infrastructure (AMI) system that has allowed the company to achieve many operational efficiencies and provides the foundation for higher levels of services in outage management and customer usage information through web portals.
Emera Maine is committed to delivering safe, reliable electric service. As the state’s second-largest electric utility, the company delivers electricity to 154,000 residential, commercial and industrial customers across 9,350 square miles in five counties in eastern and northern Maine. Bangor Hydro and Maine Public Service merged to become Emera Maine in 2014.
