AGL Resources’ board said Wednesday that Paula Rosput Reynolds, chairman, president and CEO, will resign effective Jan. 1, 2006 to become president and CEO of Safeco Corp., a Seattle-based Fortune 500 property and casualty insurance company. The board had named director D. Raymond Riddle, a former AGL chairman, as interim chairman and CEO while it conducts a search for a replacement.

“We have named a search committee headed by our director, Tom Bell,” said Riddle. “We will conduct a quick and diligent search to name a successor in the first quarter of 2006.

“We wish Paula the best as she expands her horizons in a new industry and joins her husband on the West Coast,” added Riddle. Reynolds and her family will relocate to Seattle, where her husband, Stephen P. Reynolds is chairman, president and CEO of Puget Energy.

Riddle praised Renolds’ achievements at AGL. The company recently completed its purchase of New Jersey-based NUI Corp. in a deal valued at $691 million (see Daily GPI, July 16). Atlanta-based AGL utility subsidiaries now include Atlanta Gas Light, Elizabethtown Gas (New Jersey), Virginia Natural Gas, Florida City Gas, Chattanooga Gas (Tennessee), and Elkton Gas (Maryland). In total, they serve 2.3 million customers.

“Paula’s record at AGL Resources in building a strong management team and delivering year in and year out superior results for shareholders and customers speaks for itself,” he said. “Her relentless quest for excellence has set the stage for sustained value and growth.”

Riddle was chairman of AGL from 2000 to 2002 and has been a director since 1978. He also had a 34-year banking career as president and CEO of Wachovia Bank of Georgia before serving as chairman and CEO of National Service Industries, Inc. (NSI) from 1994 to 1996. He is a board member at Atlantic American Corp., AMC Inc. and Equifax.

“We have had a great run, expanding AGL from a regional gas utility to a multi-state, integrated energy company,” said Reynolds. “But the real story here is we have a world-class board and management team that are disciplined and tested. This combination will continue to execute on our vision to be the premier natural gas company in the eastern United States.”

Reynolds was named president and CEO of AGL in August 2000 and elected chairman of the board in February 2002. She joined the company as president and COO of AGL Resources’ Atlanta-based utility, Atlanta Gas Light, in 1998. Renolds previously was president and CEO of Duke Energy Power Services and was president of PanEnergy Power Services prior to PanEnergy’s merger with Duke Power. Prior to that she was senior vice president at Pacific Gas Transmission.

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