Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, October 6, 1995 TAG: 9510060054
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MAG POFF STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The appointment announced Thursday, effective Jan. 1, is part of AEP's reorganization based on operating units rather than geography. Eaton will continue working in Roanoke.
The Southern Transmission Region is one of three geographic regions being created next year to meet growing competition in the electric utility industry, the company said.
Eaton said AEP's functions are being divided into three parts: generation, the power plants; transmission, the larger power lines; and distribution, the poles and lines to customers.
Eaton said he will be concerned with construction, maintenance and operation of transmission lines.
The southern region includes AEP's service territory in Virginia, West Virginia and parts of Tennessee and Kentucky. Other regional transmission units will be based in Fort Wayne, Ind., and Columbus, Ohio.
The transmission regions will be part of AEP's energy transmission organization responsible for the company's seven-state electric power transmission system. This organization, in turn, will form part of the Energy Transmission and Distribution Group, which will be headed by Joseph H. Vipperman, currently president of Roanoke-based Appalachian Power Co.
A graduate of Virginia Tech with a degree in civil engineering, Eaton began his utility career in 1968 as a transmission engineer in Bluefield, W.Va. Ten years later he became superintendent of real estate and right-of-way for the company in Roanoke. He served as assistant manager of the Roanoke division and manager of the Bluefield division before assuming his present job.
by CNB