AKRON, Ohio, Aug. 7, 2015 -- FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE: FE) today announced management changes that expand the roles and responsibilities for key executives and support the company's focus on customer service and cost management. The changes will be effective by September 7, 2015.

Two members of the company's leadership team have been named executive vice presidents. James H. Lash, president of FirstEnergy Generation, has been named executive vice president of FirstEnergy Corp. and president, FirstEnergy Generation. James F. Pearson, senior vice president and chief financial officer, has been named executive vice president and chief financial officer of FirstEnergy Corp. Both report to President and Chief Executive Officer Charles E. Jones.

Charles D. Lasky, vice president, Fossil Fleet Operations, has been elected to senior vice president, Human Resources, overseeing human resources services, policies, and programs for the entire company. Lasky will report to Lynn M. Cavalier, who will continue in her role of chief human resources officer, reporting to Jones.

Donald A. Moul, vice president of Commodity Operations, has been promoted to vice president, Fossil Operations and Environmental, reporting to Lash. In this position, he is responsible for providing guidance and leadership for FirstEnergy's environmental group and fossil generation fleet, focusing on safe and reliable online and outage performance.

Among those reporting to Moul will be Peter J. Kotsenas, who has been named vice president, Central Fleet Operations, which includes the company's Bruce Mansfield and W.H. Sammis power plants. Frederick G. von Ahn, currently vice president, Central Fleet Operations, will represent FirstEnergy Generation on the corporate strategy team led by Senior Vice President, Strategy Gary D. Benz.

Replacing Kotsenas as vice president, East Fleet Operations and also reporting to Moul is Daniel T. Rossero, formerly director of Generation Safety and Human Performance. East Fleet Operations includes the Pleasants, Harrison and Fort Martin power plants.

Gregory H. Halnon, fleet director of Regulatory Affairs, has been promoted to vice president, Regulatory Affairs and Laboratory Services, reporting to FENOC President and Chief Nuclear Officer Samuel L. Belcher. In addition to managing interactions with regulatory agencies that oversee the company's nuclear power plants, Halnon will be responsible for the company's BETA Laboratory. Located in Mayfield, Ohio, the laboratory offers refurbishment, testing and analytical services for FirstEnergy facilities as well as other commercial and industrial customers.

Trent A. Smith, vice president of Sales and Marketing for FirstEnergy Solutions, has been named vice president, Supply Chain of FirstEnergy Corp., reporting to Senior Vice President, Corporate Services and Chief Information Officer Bennett L. Gaines. Smith fills the position vacated when Gary Benz was named senior vice president, Strategy, in June.

Gary W. Grant, director of Customer Contact Centers, has been promoted to vice president of Customer Service of FirstEnergy Utilities, reporting to Senior Vice President and President of FirstEnergy Utilities Steven E. Strah. Grant replaces Ronald I. Green, who is retiring following 38 years of service with the company on September 1, 2015.

Completing the organizational changes, William J. Boyd, director of Vegetation Management of FirstEnergy Corp., has been named to the newly created position of vice president, Asset Management. Boyd will report to Jon Taylor, vice president, controller and chief accounting officer of FirstEnergy Corp., and oversee implementation of cost-saving programs and long-term capital investment initiatives for the company.

Biographical information and photos of these executives are available on Flickr at www.flickr.com/firstenergycorp.

FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE: FE) is a diversified energy company 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. Follow FirstEnergy on Twitter @FirstEnergyCorp.

Forward-Looking Statements: This news release includes forward-looking statements based on information currently available to management. Such statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties. These statements include declarations regarding management's intents, beliefs and current expectations. These statements typically contain, but are not limited to, the terms "anticipate," "potential," "expect," "forecast," "target," "will," "intend," "believe," "project," "estimate" and similar words. Forward-looking statements involve estimates, assumptions, known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, which may include the following: the speed and nature of increased competition in the electric utility industry, in general, and the retail sales market in particular; the ability to experience growth in the Regulated Distribution and Regulated Transmission segments and to successfully implement our revised sales strategy for the Competitive Energy Services segment; the accomplishment of our regulatory and operational goals in connection with our transmission investment plan, including but not limited to, our pending transmission rate case, the proposed transmission asset transfer, and the effectiveness of our repositioning strategy to reflect a more regulated business profile; changes in assumptions regarding economic conditions within our territories, assessment of the reliability of our transmission system, or the availability of capital or other resources supporting identified transmission investment opportunities; the impact of the regulatory process on the pending matters at the federal level and in the various states in which we do business including, but not limited to, matters related to rates and the Electric Security Plan IV in Ohio; the impact of the federal regulatory process on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)-regulated entities and transactions, in particular FERC regulation of wholesale energy and capacity markets, including PJM Interconnection, L.L.C. (PJM) markets and FERC-jurisdictional wholesale transactions; FERC regulation of cost-of-service rates, including FERC Opinion No. 531's revised Return on Equity methodology for FERC-jurisdictional wholesale generation and transmission utility service; and FERC's compliance and enforcement activity, including compliance and enforcement activity related to North American Electric Reliability Corporation's mandatory reliability standards; the uncertainties of various cost recovery and cost allocation issues resulting from American Transmission Systems, Incorporated's realignment into PJM; economic or weather conditions affecting future sales and margins such as a polar vortex or other significant weather events, and all associated regulatory events or actions; changing energy, capacity and commodity market prices including, but not limited to, coal, natural gas and oil, and their availability and impact on margins and asset valuations; the continued ability of our regulated utilities to recover their costs; costs being higher than anticipated and the success of our policies to control costs and to mitigate low energy, capacity and market prices; other legislative and regulatory changes, and revised environmental requirements, including, but not limited to, proposed greenhouse gases emission and water discharge regulations and the effects of the United States Environmental Protection Agency's coal combustion residuals regulations, Cross-State Air Pollution Rule, Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, including our estimated costs of compliance, and Clean Water Act 316(b) water intake regulation; the uncertainty of the timing and amounts of the capital expenditures that may arise in connection with any litigation, including New Source Review litigation, or potential regulatory initiatives or rulemakings (including that such initiatives or rulemakings could result in our decision to deactivate or idle certain generating units); the uncertainties associated with the deactivation of certain older regulated and competitive fossil units, including the impact on vendor commitments, and the timing thereof as they relate to the reliability of the transmission grid; the impact of other future changes to the operational status or availability of our generating units and any capacity penalties associated with outages at a given unit; adverse regulatory or legal decisions and outcomes with respect to our nuclear operations (including, but not limited to the revocation or non-renewal of necessary licenses, approvals or operating permits by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission or as a result of the incident at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant); issues arising from the indications of cracking in the shield building at Davis-Besse; the risks and uncertainties associated with litigation, arbitration, mediation and like proceedings, including, but not limited to, any such proceedings related to vendor commitments; the impact of labor disruptions by our unionized workforce; replacement power costs being higher than anticipated or not fully hedged; the ability to comply with applicable state and federal reliability standards and energy efficiency and peak demand reduction mandates; changes in customers' demand for power, including, but not limited to, changes resulting from the implementation of state and federal energy efficiency and peak demand reduction mandates; the ability to accomplish or realize anticipated benefits from strategic and financial goals, including, but not limited to, the ability to continue to reduce costs and to successfully execute our financial plans designed to improve our credit metrics and strengthen our balance sheet through, among other actions, our previously-implemented dividend reduction, our cash flow improvement plan and our other proposed capital raising initiatives; our ability to improve electric commodity margins and the impact of, among other factors, the increased cost of fuel and fuel transportation on such margins; changing market conditions that could affect the measurement of certain liabilities and the value of assets held in our Nuclear Decommissioning Trusts, pension trusts and other trust funds, and cause us and/or our subsidiaries to make additional contributions sooner, or in amounts that are larger than currently anticipated; the impact of changes to material accounting policies; the ability to access the public securities and other capital and credit markets in accordance with our announced financial plans, the cost of such capital and overall condition of the capital and credit markets affecting us and our subsidiaries; actions that may be taken by credit rating agencies that could negatively affect us and/or our subsidiaries' access to financing, increase the costs thereof, and increase requirements to post additional collateral to support outstanding commodity positions, letters of credit and other financial guarantees; changes in national and regional economic conditions affecting us, our subsidiaries and/or our major industrial and commercial customers, and other counterparties with which we do business, including fuel suppliers; the impact of any changes in tax laws or regulations or adverse tax audit results or rulings; issues concerning the stability of domestic and foreign financial institutions and counterparties with which we do business; the risks associated with cyber-attacks on our electronic data centers that could compromise the information stored on our networks, including proprietary information and customer data; and the risks and other factors discussed from time to time in our United States Securities and Exchange Commission filings, and other similar factors. Dividends declared from time to time on FirstEnergy Corp.'s common stock during any period may in the aggregate vary from prior periods due to circumstances considered by FirstEnergy Corp.'s Board of Directors at the time of the actual declarations. A security rating is not a recommendation to buy or hold securities and is subject to revision or withdrawal at any time by the assigning rating agency. Each rating should be evaluated independently of any other rating. The foregoing review of factors should not be construed as exhaustive. New factors emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for management to predict all such factors, nor assess the impact of any such factor on FirstEnergy's business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements. FirstEnergy expressly disclaims any current intention to update, except as required by law, any forward-looking statements contained herein as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

distributed by