Directors

Houston-based Dynegy Inc. said its board of directors has elected not to pay a dividend on the company’s Class A or Class B common stock for the third quarter of this year.

Two announcements by Aquila Inc.’s board of directors late Thursday spun the company’s stock to its lowest level in 14 years Friday, ending with a loss of 14% in heavy trading. Shares were off $1.75 and ended the day at $10.50. A year ago, the company — then named UtiliCorp — was trading at $35.55. Investors fled on two announcements: the board is reviewing Aquila’s dividend policy “as a means of addressing concerns relating to its credit ratings”; and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has issued an “informal” data request on the company’s “round-trip” trades.

Five former and current members of Enron’s board of directors were put on the firing line last week during a hearing by an investigating subcommittee of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee into their role in the Enron fiasco. Most board members testified that Enron’s upper management kept them pretty much in the dark, and that they didn’t learn the extent of the financial nightmare until it was too late.

Don Cash will step down as CEO of Questar Corp. effective May 1 but will remain chairman of the company’s board of directors. The board elected Keith O. Rattie as president and CEO, also effective May 1. Cash became president and CEO of Mountain Fuel Supply Co., a Questar predecessor on March 1, 1982. He as served as chairman since 1985, but resigned from his position as president in February 2001. Rattie is currently president and COO, the titles he assumed upon joining Questar in February 2001. He previously had been senior vice president of Coastal Corp. and president and CEO of Coastal Gas Services Co. Rattie also had worked for Chevron Corp. in various engineering and management positions.

Despite findings by the Enron board of directors’ special investigative committee that top company officials used the controversial off-the-book partnerships for self-enrichment gains, the director who headed up the three-month investigation of the collapsed energy trader refused to say Tuesday that the activities of Enron executives rose to the level of criminal securities fraud.

Steven J. Malcolm, current president and COO of Williams, has been named the company’s new CEO by the board of directors. Malcolm, 53, succeeds Chairman Keith E. Bailey as CEO. Bailey will retain his position as chairman until the May 17 shareholders’ meeting, when he is expected to announce his retirement.

Steven J. Malcolm, current president and COO of Williams, has been named the company’s new CEO by the board of directors. Malcolm, 53, succeeds Chairman Keith E. Bailey as CEO. Bailey will retain his position as chairman until the May 17 shareholders’ meeting, when he is expected to announce his retirement.

The board of directors of the Natural Gas Supply Association (NGSA) issued a statement last Wednesday, pledging its “full confidence” in the “integrity and leadership” of the producer group’s president, R. Skip Horvath, who was accused of “financial misconduct” and violating internal control procedures in lawsuits brought by two former NGSA employees.

The board of directors of the Natural Gas Supply Association (NGSA) issued a statement late Wednesday, pledging its “full confidence” in the “integrity and leadership” of the producer group’s president, R. Skip Horvath, who was accused of “financial misconduct” and violating internal control procedures in lawsuits brought by two former NGSA employees.