Leadership Team

Brian X. Tierney

President and Chief Executive Officer
FirstEnergy Corp. 

Brian X. Tierney is President and CEO of FirstEnergy Corp. He also is a member of the company’s Board of Directors.

Previously, Brian was a Senior Managing Director and Global Head of Operations and Asset Management for Blackstone Infrastructure Partners.

Prior to joining Blackstone in 2021, Brian spent more than 23 years at American Electric Power (AEP), one of the largest electrical utilities in the United States. He held a number of senior leadership positions at AEP, most recently serving as Executive Vice President of Strategy. From 2009-2020 Brian served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. As CFO, Brian directed the company’s finance and accounting activities, and also had responsibility for strategy, procurement, supply chain and fleet operations. Tierney gained operations experience as Executive Vice President – AEP Utilities East, AEP’s largest regulated utility region, responsible for the distribution, customer service, and financial performance of AEP’s utility operating companies in the states of Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia. Earlier in his career, Brian worked for a subsidiary of Enron Corp.

John Combs

Senior Vice President, Shared Services

John Combs is Senior Vice President of Shared Services for FirstEnergy.

Combs joined the company in April 2024 and is responsible for overseeing FirstEnergy’s IT organization, including Cyber Security, Corporate Security and Information Technology, and Innovation & Digital Factory. He also has responsibility for the Transformation Office and Corporate Affairs & Community Involvement.

Combs most recently served as Senior Vice President, Managing Director & General Manager, Chief Technology Officer of Enterprise Technology Services, at JPMorgan Chase & Co. He brings more than 25 years of experience in building, transforming and leading teams, products, technology platforms and services while ensuring regulatory and compliance needs are met and balanced with operational reliability, security and sustainability.

Before joining JPMorgan Chase & Co., Combs spent 16 years at Wolters Kluwer, a global leader in professional information, software solutions, and services for the healthcare, tax and accounting, financial and corporate compliance, legal and regulatory, and corporate performance and ESG sectors. He started as Senior Director, Architecture Services, then held increasingly responsible leadership roles before being named Senior Vice President, Chief Information Officer in May 2016.

Earlier in his career, Combs held IT positions with Telecommunication Systems, Legg Mason, Sony Electronics and United Parcel Service.

Michelle Henry

Senior Vice President, Customer Experience
FirstEnergy Service Company

Michelle Henry leads FirstEnergy’s customer service function and its sales, products and services, and energy efficiency initiatives.

Henry began her career with the Cleveland Electric Illuminating Company in 1988 as a Scholastics Awards Student engineer at the Perry Nuclear Power Plant. She has served as the manager, Business Analytics; manager, Corporate Cash Management; and manager, Finance Strategy and Reporting. She became manager, FERC and Transmission Technical Support for FirstEnergy Utilities in 2011 and was promoted to director, Market Policy for FirstEnergy Service Company in 2014. She served as director, FERC & State Regulatory Compliance before being named vice president of Customer Service for FirstEnergy Utilities, a subsidiary of FirstEnergy Corp., in May 2020. She was promoted to her current position effective August 2021.

Karen McClendon

Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer

Karen McClendon is Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) for FirstEnergy.

McClendon joined the company in November 2024 and is responsible for integrating and advancing the company’s human capital strategy, ensuring alignment with FirstEnergy’s strategic vision to be a premier electric company. She oversees key human resources functions, including talent management, benefits and compensation and labor and employee relations, and she is committed to building an inclusive workforce that is reflective of the communities served by the company.

McClendon comes to FirstEnergy from Paychex, a leading provider of integrated human capital management solutions for payroll, benefits, human resources and insurance services. As the company’s CHRO, she led the effort to enhance the employee experience using competitive compensation and benefits structures to recruit and retain top talent and transformed the human resources function by leveraging technology for data-driven human resource planning and decision-making.

Prior to her time at Paychex, McClendon spent 19 years as Vice President of Human Resources for various divisions of Comcast Corp. She also has held senior human resources leadership positions with Aramark, Exelon Corporation, Zone Telecom and Sesame Workshop.

Hyun Park     

Senior Vice President and Chief Legal Officer
FirstEnergy Service Company

Hyun Park joined FirstEnergy in 2021 as senior vice president and chief legal officer for FirstEnergy. He is responsible for the company's legal and internal audit functions, and oversees the company’s ethics and compliance program. 

Previously, Park was partner and general counsel of LimNexus LLP, where he advised clients on a wide variety of complex matters, including crisis management, litigation and corporate transactions. Prior to joining LimNexus in October 2019, he was Of Counsel at Latham & Watkins LLP. From 2006 to 2017, Park served as senior vice president and general counsel for PG&E Corporation and its businesses, including its principal subsidiary, Pacific Gas and Electric Company. Prior to joining PG&E Corporation, he was vice president, general counsel and secretary of Allegheny Energy, Inc. and previously served as senior vice president, general counsel and secretary of Sithe Energies, Inc. He began his career at Latham & Watkins and became an equity partner there. 

Wade Smith

President, FirstEnergy Utilities  

Wade Smith is president of FirstEnergy Utilities, a subsidiary of FirstEnergy.

Smith joined the company in December 2023 and is responsible for overseeing FirstEnergy’s state businesses – Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and the combined West Virginia/ Maryland division – as well as the stand-alone transmission companies. He also has responsibility for the Rates & Regulatory Affairs and External Affairs groups.

Smith has more than three decades of experience leading utilities. He most recently served as chief operating officer of Puget Sound Energy, where he was responsible for all of PSE’s operational areas, including natural gas and electric operations, safety and health, and energy supply, serving approximately 1.2 million electric customers and 900,000 natural gas customers.

In 2021, Smith joined Pacific Gas & Electric as senior vice president of Electric Operations, leading electric transmission and distribution system operations and maintenance, generation and project management and construction teams for the company’s electric operations.

Prior to PG&E, Smith spent nearly 32 years at American Electric Power. He started as an engineer and plant manager, then held increasingly responsible leadership roles before being named president and chief operating officer of AEP Texas in 2010. In 2015, he was named senior vice president, Grid Development for AEP Transmission and was responsible for planning, engineering, project and construction management, and real-time operations.

K. Jon Taylor 

Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Strategy
FirstEnergy Service Company

Jon Taylor is senior vice president, chief financial officer and strategy for FirstEnergy, with responsibility for accounting; treasury; investor relations and communications; risk; supply chain; and rates and regulatory affairs. 

Taylor joined FirstEnergy in 2009 from PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP. He progressed through various senior level financial positions, including assistant controller FirstEnergy Utilities and assistant controller FirstEnergy Solutions and FirstEnergy Generation. In October 2012, he was promoted to vice president and assistant controller for FirstEnergy Corp., and he was named vice president, controller and chief accounting officer in 2013. In March 2018, Taylor was named president of Ohio Operations, then he was promoted to vice president, FirstEnergy Utilities in April 2019. He was elected senior vice president and chief financial officer in May 2020 and named to his current position effective August 2021.

Toby L. Thomas

Chief Operating Officer, FirstEnergy

Toby Thomas is Chief Operating Officer of FirstEnergy.

Thomas joined the company in November 2023 and is responsible for a broad range of transmission and distribution business functions, including planning and protection, transmission and substation engineering, project and construction management, system operations and support operations. He also has responsibility for the Customer Experience group.

Thomas most recently served as senior vice president – AEP Energy Delivery. He was promoted to this role in 2021, and was responsible for leading efficiencies in transmission, distribution and telecommunications operations, project management, construction, engineering and standards.

Thomas started at AEP in 2001 as a project engineer in Industrial Marketing and Origination, progressing through various roles of increasing responsibility in asset optimization and generation. He was named president and chief operating officer of Indiana Michigan Power in 2017 to oversee business performance, operations and a wide range of customer, policy and regulatory relationships.

Antonio Fernández

Vice President and Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer
FirstEnergy Service Company    

As chief ethics and compliance officer, Antonio Fernández leads a dedicated team of compliance professionals with a focus on strengthening the company's ethics and compliance function. He reports to the senior vice president and chief legal officer as well as the Audit Committee of the Board, and collaborates closely with the compliance oversight subcommittee of the Audit Committee.

Fernández joined FirstEnergy in April 2021 after five years as chief compliance, NERC & privacy officer of Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG), where he led PSEG’s ethics, compliance and privacy programs, advised senior management and the Board of Directors on the company’s compliance program and provided advice on ethics, compliance, privacy and cybersecurity matters. Before joining PSEG in 2016, he was global ombuds leader and executive counsel for GE Power. During his five years at GE, he held various roles of increasing responsibility in GE’s compliance program, including serving as chief compliance officer for GE’s nuclear business and as GE’s corporate ombuds leader. Earlier in his career, Fernández was a senior attorney for Florida Power & Light from 2007 to 2011 and nuclear counsel for Pacific Gas and Electric Company from 2005 to 2007. He began his career at the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission Office of the General Counsel in its Honors Program.