AEP President Nick Akins Appointed to Wexner Center Foundation Board

October 10, 2011—The Wexner Center Foundation appointed Nick Akins, president of American Electric Power, to the board at its fall meeting at the Wexner Center for the Arts on October 6. Akins takes the place of outgoing trustee Carl English, vice chairman of AEP, who will be retiring in December.

The Wexner Center Foundation is a private, nonprofit partner of The Ohio State University Board of Trustees established to advance the interests of the Wexner Center for the Arts. Its primary role is to provide trustee guidance and sustained support for Wexner Center programming.

As AEP’s recently appointed president, Akins, who has 29 years of experience with the company, is responsible for AEP’s utilities, transmission, generation, and commercial operations that serve more than 5 million customers in 11 states.

“Nick’s leadership skills and his extensive experience in a number of strategic areas in the AEP organization will enhance the Wexner Center as it moves into its third decade,” says Leslie H. Wexner, chair of the Wexner Center Foundation board of trustees. “We’ve been very fortunate to have Carl’s participation and generous advocacy of the arts center over the years, and look forward to continuing our close relationship to AEP with Nick at the helm.”

AEP ranks among the nation's largest generators of electricity, owning nearly 38,000 megawatts of generating capacity in the U.S. AEP also owns the nation's largest electricity transmission system, a nearly 39,000-mile network that includes more 765 kilovolt extra-high voltage transmission lines than all other U.S. transmission systems combined.

From 2006 to 2010, Akins was responsible for all generation activities of AEP’s, including the engineering, construction, and operations of fossil and hydro generation; nuclear generation; fuels procurement; emission, and logistics. Akins was also responsible for the commercial operations, marketing, and trading functions for the company. He has served in various other roles for AEP, and was also president and chief operating officer for Southwestern Electric Power Company, serving approximately 439,000 customers in Louisiana, Arkansas and northeast Texas.

Akins received a bachelor’s degree in 1982 in electrical engineering from Louisiana Tech University in Ruston and a master’s degree in electrical engineering in 1986 from Louisiana Tech. He has completed executive management programs at Louisiana State University, the University of Idaho, and the Reactor Technology Course for Utility Executives at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Akins is a registered professional engineer in Texas. He currently serves as the vice chairman of the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) board, and also serves on the boards of the Mid-Ohio Food Bank and the Greater Columbus Arts Council, and on several subsidiary boards of AEP.

Full bio: http://www.aep.com/about/leadership/profile.aspx?id=Akins

The current board list follows.

 

WEXNER CENTER FOUNDATION BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Chairman: Leslie H. Wexner, Founder, Chairman and CEO, Limited Brands

Vice Chairman: E. Gordon Gee, President, The Ohio State University

President: James Lyski, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company

Nick Akins, President, AEP

David M. Aronowitz, President and CEO, The Gnoêsis Group

Shelley Bird, Executive Vice President of Public Affairs, Cardinal Health, Inc.

Michael J. Canter, Partner, Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease

Sherri Geldin, Director, Wexner Center for the Arts

Ann Gilbert Getty, publisher and philanthropist

Michael P. Glimcher, Chairman and CEO, Glimcher Realty Trust

Elizabeth Kessler, Partner-in-Charge, Jones Day

C. Robert Kidder, Principal, 3Stone Advisors LLC, and Chairman, Chrysler Group LCC

Nancy Kramer, Founder and CEO, Resource Interactive

James E. Kunk, Regional President, The Huntington National Bank

Bill Lambert, collector and philanthropist

Ronald A. Pizzuti, Chairman and CEO, The Pizzuti Companies

Marshall Rose, Chairman and Chief Executive, The Georgetown Company

Robert H. Schottenstein, CEO, President, Chairman, M/I Homes Inc.

Joyce Shenk, community volunteer

Alex Shumate, Global Managing Partner/Regions at Squire, Sanders & Dempsey

A. Alfred Taubman, Founder, The Taubman Company

Barbara Trueman, Owner, TrueSports Inc.

Abigail S. Wexner, attorney and community advocate

John F. Wolfe, Chairman and CEO, The Dispatch Printing Company

Ex officio

Joseph A. Alutto, Executive Vice President and Provost, The Ohio State University

Bruce A. Soll, Senior Vice President and Counsel, Limited Brands

Mark E. Vannatta, Partner, Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease