Dynegy Inc.’s board on Friday elected CEO Dan Dienstbier as the new chairman. Interim chair Glenn Tilton resigned earlier this month to assume the top post at United Airlines (see NGI, Sept. 9).

Dienstbier was named CEO following the resignation in May of Dynegy’s founder, Chuck Watson (see NGI, June 3). COO Steve Bergstrom, who with Dienstbier has been running Dynegy on a day-to-day basis since Watson resigned, is considered the leading candidate for the new CEO position.

Last January, after Dynegy assumed control of Northern Natural Gas Pipeline Co. (NNG), Dienstbier was named the new president, and actually reported to Bergstrom. He had been running NNG for Enron Corp. when Dynegy obtained it. He already has more than 30 years of experience in the energy industry, and held various executive positions at NNG, including president. In 1985, Dienstbier was named president of Enron Corp.’s Gas Pipeline Group, and he also held other executive positions after leaving Enron in 1988. He has been a member of Dynegy’s board since 1995, and had lived in Omaha before his appointment as interim CEO.

“Certainty, consistency and confidence in company leadership is one of our top priorities, and Dan has excelled in every aspect of his duties as a member of the board and interim chief executive officer,” said J. Otis Winters, lead director and chairman of Dynegy’s Governance and Nominating Committee. He said the board was confident in Dienstbier’s plan to execute the company’s capital and liquidity plan.

Also Friday, Dynegy announced that H. John Riley Jr., CEO of Cooper Industries Ltd., resigned from its board because he said he did not have the time that “Dynegy deserves” because of other responsibilities. He had served on the board since May 2001.

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