American Electric Power’s Nick Akins receives EEI’s ‘Distinguished Leadership Award’
American Electric Power’s (AEP) Chairperson, President and CEO Nicholas K. “Nick” Akins received the Edison Electric
Institute’s (EEI) Distinguished Leadership Award this week at EEI’s winter CEO and board of directors meeting.
The award was established to honor individuals for their contributions and commitment to the electric power industry. Akins
became the ninth industry CEO to receive the honor.
“We are pleased to present this award to Nick Akins in recognition of his outstanding leadership and dedication to the electric power industry,” EEI President Tom Kuhn said. “AEP and our industry are in the midst of a major transformation, and Nick is focused on delivering the energy future customers want and expect.”
Akins recently led efforts to develop and implement the National Response Event (NRE), an industry-wide mutual assistance response to a large-scale outage.
“Changes in our industry are being driven by innovation and evolving customer expectations, and Nick has played a major role in how our industry is adapting to new policies, technologies and demands from our customers,” Tony Earley, PG&E Corporation president, chairman, CEO, said. “Nick is truly dedicated to our industry and our customers, and he is a great friend and colleague.”
Earley received EEI’s Distinguished Leadership Award in 2014.
Akins was elected AEP president in December 2010, CEO in October 2011 and chairman in December 2013. Akins is currently a member of EEI’s executive committee and served as the organization’s chairperson from June 2015 to June 2016. Akins is also a board member of the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI), Global Sustainable Electricity Partnership, the Wexner Center for the Arts, the Columbus Partnership, the Columbus Downtown Development Corporation, Nuclear Electric Insurance Limited, Fifth Third Bancorp, OhioHealth, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, and the Business Roundtable, where he also serves on the executive committee and as chair of the energy and environment committee.
