PPL Corporation (NYSE: PPL) announced Monday (1/9) that Matt Simmons, who has 17 years of auditing and accounting experience, is joining PPL as vice president and controller.

Simmons, who currently is vice president-Finance and controller for Duke Energy Americas in Houston, will assume his new position on Jan. 30, reporting to Paul Farr, PPL's senior vice president-Financial.

"We are very pleased to welcome Matt to the PPL financial team. His extensive experience in capital and energy markets, both domestic and international, makes him an ideal choice for this position," said Farr, who has been serving as the company's controller since August 2004.

Simmons has served in his present position for more than two years, after joining Duke in 2003 as vice president and controller for Duke Energy North America. Prior to that he spent nearly five years at Reliant Energy, where he held a number of positions, including chief risk and operating officer for Reliant Energy Europe. He began his career with PricewaterhouseCoopers as a staff auditor in Houston. Before leaving PWC, he had advanced to senior manager of the firm's national office and of PWC's Rio de Janeiro office.

A native of Texas, Simmons earned an accounting degree from Texas A&M University. He is a certified public accountant.

Farr, who reports to John Biggar, executive vice president and chief financial officer, was named senior vice president in August 2005 after serving as vice president and controller for a year. At the time of Farr's appointment as senior vice president, the company announced that it would immediately begin a search for a new controller.

PPL also announced appointments to two newly created positions, effective Monday. Russell Clelland, director-Finance, was named assistant treasurer, and Mark Woods, director-Financial Accounting and Reporting, was named assistant controller.

PPL Corporation, headquartered in Allentown, Pa., controls about 12,000 megawatts of generating capacity in the United States, sells energy in key U.S. markets and delivers electricity to nearly 5 million customers in Pennsylvania, the United Kingdom and Latin America. More information is available at www.pplweb.com.