Elaina L. Ball
John Louis Hairston
William P. Herdegen III
Cheryl Mele
Morgan K. O’Brien
Jay C. Stowe
The list of candidates to become the next CEO of JEA has been trimmed to six.
Mycoff Fry Partners LLC Managing Director Carl Mycoff, the executive search firm hired by the city-owned public utility for the search, presented the list of semifinalists to the Managing Director/CEO Search Committee of the JEA board in a Sept. 14 letter.
Here are the semifinalists:
Elaina L. Ball: Senior vice president and interim CEO at El Paso Electric Co. in El Paso, Texas. She is the former COO of Austin Energy in Austin, Texas.
John Louis Hairston: Bonneville Power Administration COO in Portland, Oregon.
William P. Herdegen III: Operations vice president of Henkels & McCoy Inc. in Aurora, Illinois. He is the former president and COO of Connecticut Light & Power Co. in Berlin, Connecticut.
Cheryl Mele: Independent consultant in Austin, Texas. She is the former interim vice president of regulatory affairs of Austin Energy in Austin, Texas.
Morgan K. O’Brien: President and CEO of Peoples Gas in Pittsburgh.
Jay C. Stowe: CEO and founder of Stowe Utility Group LLC in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He is the former senior vice president of resources and operations support for the Tennessee Valley Authority.
The six candidates were narrowed from 28 resumes JEA received in its nationwide search.
The board plans to conduct final interviews Oct. 12-16 and complete contract negotiations with a finalist by Oct. 30, based on the recruitment schedule issued by JEA’s search committee.
Jacksonville’s city-owned power and water utility is seeking a permanent replacement for fired Managing Director and CEO Aaron Zahn, who was fired by the former board Jan. 28.
The board fired Zahn after city attorneys investigated and accused him of willful misconduct and gross negligence in the failed attempt to sell JEA and a proposed employee bonus plan, which was not implemented. A federal grand jury is investigating the sale process.
Paul McElroy, who was JEA’s CEO from 2012-18, was brought back on a six-month contract beginning May 8 to lead the utility.
