Avista Energy, emphasizing people power in its drive to become anational energy marketing and technology company, has just namedsix new vice presidents, picking up talent from IllinoisPower/Illinova Energy and Enron Capital and Trade among others.

At a Washington press briefing Avista Energy Chairman Neil E.Kelley, formerly chairman of Vitol Gas & Electric, announcedthe new hires, saying the company was attracting talent by offeringa chance to create value and participate in the company’s successwith incentives and options.

Chairman Thomas M. Matthews of parent Avista Corp. outlinedinitiatives underway to more than double the company’s value,dropping the utility identification and becoming known as a tradingand technology company. He pointed to growth in Avista’s Internetbilling and reporting system, its fiber optics andtelecommunications services, and fuel cells and distributedresources, as well as regional and national energy marketing andtrading. Matthews said Wall Street was not recognizing the value ofAvista’s new lines of business in the company’s stock price and hewas considering spinning off some of the new technology units inIPOs to get that value on the books.

Meanwhile, Avista Energy, headed by Kelley and Michael R.Kutsch, who formerly headed up Vitol Gas & Electric, whichAvista bought earlier this year, is gathering talent. DavidDickson, working out of the Spokane, WA, office, will managenatural gas trading and marketing-western region. Prior to Avista,Dickson served as the managing director for energy trading atIllinois Power. In Houston, Brent Friedman will become vicepresident, risk management. He was managing director for commodityrisk for both Illinois Power and marketing affiliate IllinovaEnergy. From Enron Capital and Trade, Avista picked up DarrenLobell to run the Midwest electric desk as vice president,trading-Midwest. Lobell had been director of trading for ECT’sMidwest regions. Another recruit from Enron, Sean P. O’Neal, willbe Avista’s vice president, trading-Southeast, moving over frommanaging ECT’s trading at the Entergy and TVA hubs. In addition,Mark T. Stugart has been named vice president, trading, to overseecoal, SO2 and oil activities. Stugart had co-founded and managedSoundview Energy, a petroleum marketing company in Boston. He alsohad many years experience with the Vitol group of companies. AndEric J. Melvin, who had established the structured marketingprogram at Hess Energy Trading in New York, will be in charge ofthe same area for Avista as vice president.

©Copyright 1999 Intelligence Press Inc. All rights reserved. Thepreceding news report may not be republished or redistributed, inwhole or in part, in any form, without prior written consent ofIntelligence Press, Inc.