Eric van der Walde, who led the meteoric rise in energy marketing and trading at American Electric Power (AEP) only to see the entire sector collapse in less than a year, announced his resignation Thursday. AEP decided earlier this month to limit its energy trading activities, redirecting its business strategies toward its traditional generation assets (see Daily GPI, Oct. 11).

Holly Koeppel was named to succeed van der Walde, who was executive vice president of wholesale. She will direct AEP’s unregulated businesses, effective immediately, and was promoted to executive vice president of energy services. Koeppel had been senior vice president of corporate development and strategy for AEP. Koeppel will report to COO Tom Shockley.

E. Linn Draper Jr., AEP’s CEO, said the decision by van der Walde to resign was “motivated by fundamental changes in the energy trading business and is not a reflection on AEP’s trading organization. Eric’s commercial skills and integrity have served us well in the difficult environment of the last year. We appreciate his contribution.”

An AEP executive since 1997, van der Walde is expected to remain with AEP in a consulting capacity as the company unwinds its trading operations, he said. “While I’m disappointed in AEP’s change in strategy, I understand and support the decision and will use my best efforts to ensure an orderly transition.” He was promoted to executive vice president of AEP’s marketing and trading segment in September 2001, after serving as a senior vice president of energy trading. He directed all of AEP’s merchant services, including power, natural gas, coal and sulfur dioxide allowance markets. Before joining AEP, van der Walde had worked for Enron for five years, and was vice president of power trading for Enron Capital and Trade Resources where he managed the power trading business in the eastern United States and Texas.

Koeppel, 44, has more than 20 years of experience managing both regulated and unregulated energy assets and businesses. She joined AEP in July 2000, and in the past year has led the successful divestiture of more than $3 billion of non-strategic international assets, including SEEBOARD and CitiPower. Before joining AEP, Koeppel worked at Consolidated Natural Gas (CNG) for more than 15 years, helping develop strategies in its gas trading business.

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