FirstEnergy Names John Hawkins Vice President of Operations Support
Hawkins to succeed David Karafa, who is retiring after 40 years with FirstEnergy
AKRON, Ohio, Oct. 25, 2022 -- FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE: FE) today announced that John Hawkins has been named vice president of Operations Support, effective Oct. 24. He will report to Sam Belcher, FirstEnergy senior vice president of Operations. Hawkins succeeds David Karafa, who is retiring after more than 40 years of service with FirstEnergy.
In this role, Hawkins will be responsible for providing oversight and leadership of numerous departments that support distribution, transmission and customer experience functions, including Workforce Development, Utility Operations Support, Work Management and Process Improvement, Distribution Systems Operations, Vegetation Management, Emergency Preparedness and the Advanced Distribution Management Systems (ADMS) project.
"John brings to FirstEnergy a wealth of utility experience with a safety-first mindset that will help enhance our performance excellence," said Belcher. "His knowledge of reliability performance, along with his expertise in all aspects of transmission, substation and distribution operations, will help drive success as we expand our smart grid investments."
Hawkins joins FirstEnergy from Entergy Louisiana, Entergy's largest operating company, where he held a variety of leadership roles within utility operations. He most recently served as vice president of Reliability, where he was responsible for the engineering, operations and maintenance of the transmission and distribution systems, including statewide strategic direction and customer-focused objectives. In this role, he was the incident commander for major restoration events following hurricanes Laura and Ida.
Beyond his time at Entergy Louisiana, Hawkins gained nearly two decades of experience leading various areas of utility operations and engineering. He held several operations roles with Florida Power & Light, where he rapidly advanced through a series of promotional assignments in both transmission and distribution. He also spent time at Duke Energy.
Hawkins earned a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering technology from Purdue University and a Master of Business Administration from Indiana University. He is a licensed professional engineer in Ohio and Texas.
FirstEnergy is dedicated to integrity, safety, reliability and operational excellence. Its ten 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. Follow FirstEnergy on Twitter @FirstEnergyCorp or online at www.firstenergycorp.com.
Editor's Note: A professional photo of John Hawkins is available for download on Flickr.
(102522)
News Media Contact: Lauren Siburkis, (330) 203-8850; Investor Contact: Irene Prezelj, (330) 384-3859;