JUNO BEACH, Fla. – FPL Group, Inc. (NYSE: FPL) today announced that James Robo has been appointed president and chief operating officer, effective immediately. Robo previously served as president of the company’s competitive wholesale power generation subsidiary, FPL Energy. Succeeding Robo as president of FPL Energy is Mitchell Davidson, who had been serving as senior vice president of business management for the FPL Group subsidiary.
Robo will report to Lewis Hay, III, chairman and chief executive officer of FPL Group. Davidson and Armando Olivera, president of Florida Power & Light Company, will report to Robo. Robo also will oversee all power generation operations for the company, as well as engineering, construction and procurement.
“Our company has increased significantly in size, scope and complexity since the beginning of the decade. Today, we operate nearly 35,000 megawatts of generating capacity in 26 states. I am especially fortunate to have the strong leadership, operational expertise and innovative thinking of Jim Robo to draw upon as we continue to profitably grow what has become one of the largest and best energy services businesses in the country,” said Hay.
“Our strategy of becoming a leading, diversified power company -- with a high performance regulated utility and a leading competitive power generation and marketing company -- has provided significant value to our customers, employees and shareholders,” said Hay. “We will continue to build upon this strategy and find new ways to capitalize on the synergies of these businesses for added benefits to our stakeholders.
“For example, FPL Group plans to invest annually approximately $3 billion over the next several years to expand its generating portfolio and infrastructure within its two primary subsidiaries. Through this new management structure and Jim’s focused leadership, we expect to continue to enhance operational performance, more effectively deploy our capital and further leverage our supplier relationships,” said Hay.
Since 2002, when Robo joined the company, FPL Energy has more than doubled its generating asset portfolio, and its earnings contributions have nearly quadrupled during that same time. “Jim has a proven track record of growing businesses, both internally and through acquisitions, and achieving outstanding operational and cost performance,” said Hay.
Robo joined FPL Group in early 2002 as vice president of business development and was named president of FPL Energy a few months later. Prior to joining the Florida-based energy services company, Robo was with General Electric for ten years, where he was president and CEO of a major division of GE Capital and served as chairman and CEO of GE Mexico. He received a BA Summa Cum Laude from Harvard College and an MBA from Harvard Business School, where he was a Baker Scholar.
Davidson joined FPL Energy in June 2004 as vice president of business management for the subsidiary’s Texas-based business operations and was appointed senior vice president of all business management activities in May 2006. He has been responsible for the day-to-day activities of the business management organization, including all activities related with FPL Energy’s generating assets.
“Mitch has been a senior member of our leadership team at FPL Energy and has played a significant role in optimizing our asset portfolio and enhancing operational performance,” said Hay. “His strong leadership skills and industry experience will enable him to lead the continued profitable growth of this competitive business.”
Prior to joining FPL Energy, Davidson was senior vice president, energy management, for Duke Energy North America. He held a number of other senior management positions while at Duke, including senior vice president, origination. Earlier, Davidson was at Entergy-Koch LP where he held a number of executive positions of increasing responsibility including senior vice president, trading, marketing and risk management and executive vice president. Mr. Davidson holds a BA in Industrial Technology from Southwest Texas State University and an MBA from the University of Houston.