FirstEnergy Names Ketan K. Patel Vice President, Corporate Secretary, and Chief Ethics Officer

AKRON, Ohio, June 7, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The FirstEnergy Corp. FE Board of Directors has elected Ketan K. Patel vice president, Corporate Secretary and Chief Ethics Officer.  The change is effective July 1, 2016.

Patel has been director, Real Estate and Facilities, at FirstEnergy since 2012.  In his new role he will serve as a primary liaison to the Board of Directors and oversee the Corporate, Real Estate and Records & Information Compliance departments.  Patel will report to Leila Vespoli, executive vice president, Corporate Strategy, Regulatory Affairs & Chief Legal Officer.  He replaces Rhonda Ferguson, who is leaving the company to pursue other opportunities.

"Ketan has a broad legal background and experience as a corporate advisor," Vespoli said.  "I am confident that his 'can-do' attitude, knowledge and skills will be valuable assets as he moves into this important role."

Before joining FirstEnergy, Patel was a partner in the real estate group at McDonald Hopkins LLC.  Previously, he served as associate general counsel at DDR Corp., a national real estate investment trust, leading the Corporate and Transaction group.  From 2003 until 2005, Patel was vice president and general counsel for BioEnterprise Corporation in Cleveland, and from 2000 until 2003 he was an associate with McKinsey & Company, where he counseled senior executives and boards on strategic and organizational issues.  Patel began his legal career in 1995 with McDonald Hopkins LLC in Cleveland.

Patel graduated cum laude from Princeton University with a B.S.E. in Electrical Engineering and received his law degree from the University of Michigan Law School. 

FirstEnergy is dedicated to safety, reliability and operational excellence.  Its 10 electric distribution companies form one of the nation's largest investor-owned electric systems, serving customers in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, West Virginia, Maryland and New York.  The company's transmission subsidiaries operate more than 24,000 miles of transmission lines that connect the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic regions, while its generation subsidiaries control nearly 17,000 megawatts of capacity from a diversified mix of scrubbed coal, non-emitting nuclear, natural gas, hydro and other renewables.  Follow FirstEnergy on Twitter @FirstEnergyCorp or online at www.firstenergycorp.com.

Editor's Note:  A photo of Patel is available for download on Flickr.

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SOURCE FirstEnergy Corp.