OHIO BUSINESS
AEP changes continue
American Electric Power has named the executive who will be in charge of the transition of the company’s Ohio power plants to a new unregulated subsidiary, part of a larger series of changes that will lead to the announcement of further restructuring and layoffs early next year.
Charles Zebula, who is now the company’s treasurer and senior vice president, will become executive vice president for energy supply, AEP said.
The changes in Ohio are happening at the same time the company is studying how to make its structure more efficient. AEP has said it will announce the results, which will include layoffs, in the first few months of next year. The company has not given any indication of how much it will reduce staff.
Columbus-based AEP has about 18,700 employees in its 11-state territory, of which 5,980 are in Ohio and about 3,300 are in central Ohio.
AEP Ohio is splitting into two parts. One will handle the delivery of electricity; the other will own AEP’s Ohio power plants.
P&G pairs with Wright
Cincinnati-based consumer products company Procter & Gamble will partner with Wright State University in Dayton to offer internships to students with disabilities, according to university officials.
The move will establish a direct connection between Wright State and P&G; that could expand into jobs for other students as well, said Wright State’s Office of Disability Services.
The partnership is an outgrowth of a P&G affinity group, which are employees with common backgrounds such as race, ethnicity and physical disabilities that work with company management to attract qualified job candidates and increase diversity.
The partnership was established through WrightChoice Inc., a Columbus-based group that supplies organizations with underrepresented talent and focuses on internship placement, disability inclusion and diversity training.
In the past, P&G had only come to Wright State to recruit doctoral candidates, officials said.
Other regional universities also will be partners in the P&G program. Currently, there are about 550 Wright State students with disabilities registered with the university.