JEA’s board of directors will choose its next leader today after the two finalists present their visions for the future of the public utility.
CEO and Managing Director Jim Dickenson will retire in February.
By a majority vote, a four-member board search committee on June 21 narrowed the finalists to Joseph Belechak, a former Westinghouse Electric Co. senior vice president for nuclear fuels, and Paul McElroy, current JEA chief financial officer.
“The two candidates we selected were the strongest, the strongest from inside the company and outside of the company,” said Ron Townsend, a JEA board member and chair of the search committee, after that meeting.
Belechak has a background in civil engineering and business management, earning a Bachelor of Science degree from Carnegie Mellon University with a triple major of civil engineering/industrial management/economics and a master of business administration from the University of Pittsburgh.
He recently served as Westinghouse Electric Co. senior vice president for nuclear fuels and worked for the company since 2007. Before that, he was chief operations officer for Duquesne Light Holdings.
Paul McElroy earned a Bachelor of Science degree from St. Joseph’s College and both he and Belechak attended the advanced management program at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
McElroy has served as CFO at JEA since 2002. Before joining JEA he was vice president and general manager of Bombardier Capital Corp.
Mayor Alvin Brown requested to meet with the candidates before their presentations to
the board today. Board chair Ashton Hudson explained that it wasn’t an uncommon
request.
“We think it is important that the candidates have exposure to a variety of stakeholders during this important selection process,” said Hudson.
The process was set into motion Dickenson announced Jan. 17 that he planned to retire in 2013.
JEA advertised a need for an executive search firm and selected Mycoff, Fry & Prouse, based in Conifer, Colo., from 12 applicants Jan 26. The firm gathered a group of 17 applicants from both inside and outside of JEA and presented a short list of six to the board’s CEO search committee.
The committee members interviewed candidates from the short list and narrowed it to two candidates.
Dickenson became the company’s sixth CEO June 15, 2004. He joined JEA in 1973 as an engineer in the transmission design
group.
The board meeting will begin at 11 a.m. today at the JEA office at 21 W. Church St. in the eighth floor board room.
@photojoe71
356-2466