PPL Corporation (NYSE: PPL) announced Wednesday (6/18) that Clarence (Joe) Hopf, president of the company’s marketing and trading subsidiary, has resigned to take an executive position with Public Service Enterprise Group.
He will be succeeded as president of PPL EnergyPlus by Robert D. Gabbard, an industry veteran of more than two decades who joined the company early this month as senior vice president of Trading, said William H. Spence, PPL executive vice president and chief operating officer.
“Joe has done an outstanding job of expanding the capabilities of our energy trading and marketing operation, putting in place an excellent management team,” said Spence. “We thank him for his contribution to PPL and wish him well in his new position.
“We are very fortunate to already have on board a person with Rob’s depth of both management and market experience, someone who has the proven ability to continue to grow this important part of our business,” said Spence.
Prior to coming to PPL, Gabbard served as senior vice president of merchant trading operations of Delaware-based Conectiv Energy for three years.
A native of Danville, Ky., Gabbard began his career as director of marketing and general counsel at Southern Gas Company in Versailles, Ky. He advanced to vice president of trading and marketing at Southern Gas before joining CMS Energy in 1990 as director of marketing and energy trading.
After seven years at CMS Energy, during which time he advanced to vice president of energy marketing, Gabbard moved to Conectiv Energy as vice president and general manager of power trading in 1998 and senior vice president of merchant trading seven years later.
Gabbard holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Stetson University in DeLand, Fla., and a law degree from the University of Dayton School of Law.
Hopf has been president of PPL EnergyPlus since July 2006. He joined PPL in 2005.
PPL Corporation, headquartered in Allentown, Pa., controls more than 11,000 megawatts of generating capacity in the United States, sells energy in key U.S. markets and delivers electricity to about 4 million customers in Pennsylvania and the United Kingdom.