COLUMBUS, Ohio, May 1, 2012 - Alberto Ruocco has been named vice president and chief information officer for American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP), according to Nicholas K. Akins, AEP president and chief executive officer. Ruocco, 50, is current chief information officer of BlueStar Energy Solutions, a competitive retail subsidiary recently acquired by AEP.

Ruocco replaces Pablo A. Vegas, who was named president and chief operating officer of AEP Ohio in March.

Ruocco joined BlueStar Energy Solutions in 2011 and led the information technology team, enabling the company's strategy and growth. With more than 26 years in the information technology industry, Ruocco's transformational leadership has impacted a wide range of companies in various industries spanning local to global entities and all functional areas. Prior to BlueStar, Ruocco was an executive vice president for The Revere Group, the Chicago-based business and information technology subsidiary of NTTDATA, a leading global consulting firm. Prior to The Revere Group, Ruocco was a senior manager in Deloitte Consulting's CIO Advisory practice and vice president of Process and Information Technology at Kerry Americas, a wholesale supplier of food ingredients to the global market.

Ruocco holds a Bachelor of Arts from Yale University and a Master of Business Administration from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. He and his wife, Regina, have three children and reside in Northbrook, Ill.

American Electric Power is one of the largest electric utilities in the United States, delivering electricity to more than 5 million customers in 11 states. AEP ranks among the nation's largest generators of electricity, owning nearly 38,000 megawatts of generating capacity in the U.S. AEP also owns the nation's largest electricity transmission system, a nearly 39,000-mile network that includes more 765-kilovolt extra-high voltage transmission lines than all other U.S. transmission systems combined. AEP's transmission system directly or indirectly serves about 10 percent of the electricity demand in the Eastern Interconnection, the interconnected transmission system that covers 38 eastern and central U.S. states and eastern Canada, and approximately 11 percent of the electricity demand in ERCOT, the transmission system that covers much of Texas. AEP's utility units operate as AEP Ohio, AEP Texas, Appalachian Power (in Virginia and West Virginia), AEP Appalachian Power (in Tennessee), Indiana Michigan Power, Kentucky Power, Public Service Company of Oklahoma, and Southwestern Electric Power Company (in Arkansas, Louisiana and east Texas). AEP's headquarters are in Columbus, Ohio.