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Kristina Lund, president and CEO of AES Indiana since 2020, is leaving the utility at the end of July, the company said Monday.
Lund plans to become president of a renewable energy company, an AES Indiana spokeswoman said. She had no details on the company, and said Lund was unavailable for interview.
Ahmed Pasha, the utility’s chief financial officer, has been named acting president of AES Indiana, as well as a sister operation, AES Ohio, based in Dayton. Lund also had been the top executive of both utilities, which are owned by Arlington, Virginia-based AES Corp.
Lund’s departure means that AES Indiana, formerly known as Indianapolis Power & Light Co., will have gone through five presidents in the past eight years, with some of them lasting less than one year. Lund has been in the top job for nearly three years.
“We thank Kristina for her service and wish her all the best in her new endeavors, while our strong current utilities senior leadership team will ensure continuity and performance,” Andres Gluski, CEO of the corporate parent, wrote in a company email this morning.
Pasha has been with the company for more than two decades. He was involved in strategic and operational issues, and helped resolve several high-profile regulatory matters, the company said.
The change of leadership comes just one month after AES asked state regulators for permission to raise electricity rates by about 13% to cover what it said were rising operational costs and other needs. Earlier this month, the company came under fire from consumer groups after a heavy storm left some customers without power for nearly a week.
Under Lund’s leadership, the utility has made several large moves, including the utility’s plan to give up coal as a fuel source by 2025, a decision that will lead to the early shutdown of coal-fired units at the company’s massive Petersburg Generating Station.
She also helped transition the company into more solar energy and battery storage, as well as overseeing the Indiana utility’s rebranding in 2021 to match its corporate parent’s name.
Lund has been with AES for 17 years in a variety of senior roles. Previously she served as chief product officer for carbon-free energy and a regional chief financial officer.
AES provides electricity to more than 500,000 residential, commercial and industrial customers in central Indiana.
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I wonder what the problem is that AES-Indiana can’t seem to hold onto their CEOs.
They seem to have a lot of people unhappy with their performance as a utility during this time period.
Yes!
AES goes through CEOs like no other company I’ve ever seen. It is truly remarkable… and not in a good way. Something is off there.
I suspect that AES Indiana and Ohio are too close to the company headquarters (Arlington VA) and it might be the micromanagement and company politics is too much.
The other thing that might be making this job toxic is the AES Indiana and AES Ohio operate in two different regulatory environments, and the Indiana was formerly the cash cow of AES, and it turns out Ohio is somewhat of an albatross. Now the profit stream from the North American division is not so golden, nor is the position of CEO.
We were never a priority once AES boiler IPL. Then the sent their CEO’s in training our way. All seemed to be part of the DEI experiment.
Bought not boiler