Nicholas Akins was the chief executive officer (CEO) and president of

American Electric Power American Electric Power Company, Inc. (AEP), (railcar reporting mark: AEPX) is an American domestic electric utility company in the United States. It is one of the largest electric utility companies in the country, with more than five mi ...

(AEP), a major investor-owner

electric utility An electric utility, or a power company, is a company in the electric power industry (often a public utility) that engages in electricity generation and distribution of electricity for sale generally in a regulated market. Electric utilities are ...

in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Career

Akins is the tenth president and sixth CEO in AEP's history and has served in that capacity since 2010. Akins serves as the only management representative on the AEP board of directors. From 2006 to 2010, Akins served as AEP's executive vice president of generation. From 2004 to 2006, Akins served as president and chief operating officer for Southwestern Electric Power Company. Prior to that, Akins served as vice president of energy marketing services and before that vice president of industry restructuring for AEP. Akins rose through the ranks at Central and South West Corp. (CSW) before the company merged with AEP in 2000. Akins earned a bachelor's degree in

electrical engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems that use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

from

Louisiana Tech University Louisiana Tech University (Louisiana Tech, La. Tech, or simply Tech) is a public university, public research university in Ruston, Louisiana, United States. It is part of the University of Louisiana System and Carnegie Classification of Institu ...

in 1982 and his master's degree also in electrical engineering from Louisiana Tech in 1986. Akins is the immediate past chairman and a member of the board of directors of the

Electric Power Research Institute EPRI, is an American independent, nonprofit organization that conducts research and development related to the generation, delivery, and use of electricity to help address challenges in the energy industry, including reliability, efficiency, affo ...

(EPRI). He is also a member of the boards of American Coalition of Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE),

Edison Electric Institute The Edison Electric Institute (EEI) is an association that represents all U.S. investor-owned electric companies. In its official communications, EEI mostly cast doubt on climate change in the 1990s. In the 2000s, EEI no longer cast doubt on clim ...

(EEI),

Nuclear Energy Institute The Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) is a nuclear industry trade association in the United States, based in Washington, D.C. Synopsis The Nuclear Energy Institute represents the nuclear technologies industry. NEI’s stated mission “is to ...

(NEI),

National Association of Manufacturers The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) is an advocacy group headquartered in Washington, D.C., with additional offices across the United States. It is the nation's largest manufacturing industrial trade association, representing 14,000 s ...

, Mid-Ohio Foodbank, Greater Columbus Arts Council, and the

Wexner Center for the Arts The Wexner Center for the Arts is the Ohio State University's "multidisciplinary, international laboratory for the exploration and advancement of contemporary art." The Wexner Center is a lab and public gallery, but not an art museum, as it doe ...

. He also serves on several subsidiary boards of AEP.

Personal life

Akins is a native of

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

. He and his wife Donna live in

New Albany, Ohio New Albany is a City (United States), city in the U.S. state of Ohio. It is located northeast of the state capital of Columbus, Ohio, Columbus. Most of the city is located in Franklin County, Ohio, Franklin County and a small portion extends i ...

. He is the son of James Ellis Dodson. His mother remarried.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Akins, Nick Living people Louisiana Tech University alumni American chief executives of energy companies People from Dublin, Ohio Year of birth missing (living people)