KANSAS CITY, Mo., March 21, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Aquila (ILA:NYSE) today announced that it has set the date for its 2007 Annual Shareholder Meeting and that Keith Stamm, its chief operating officer since 2001 and a Kansas City native, is leaving the company. His position is being eliminated at the end of April as the company continues downsizing its executive leadership team, a process the company began more than a year ago.
Aquila's Annual Shareholder Meeting will be held on Wednesday, May 2, 2007. It will begin with a 30-minute reception at 1:30 p.m. at the Adams Point Conference Center, 1400 NE Coronado Dr., Blue Springs, Mo. Aquila's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Richard C. Green will conduct the meeting and update shareholders on the company's utility business.
At the annual meeting, shareholders will be voting on the election of three directors and the ratification of the company's auditors, KPMG. The company's annual report for 2006 and 2007 annual proxy statement will be mailed to stockholders at the end of March. Shareholders who own Aquila common stock as of March 23, 2007, will be entitled to vote their shares at the 2007 Annual Shareholder Meeting. Shareholders will not be asked to vote on the company's recently announced merger with a subsidiary of Great Plains Energy Inc., which will be voted on at a special shareholder meeting to be announced later this year.
In an unrelated matter, the company also announces the departure of Keith Stamm, who has been with Aquila for more than 24 years. His position will be eliminated at the end of April as the company continues downsizing plans. Aquila began reducing its number of senior executives more than a year ago when it announced it would sell utility properties in Minnesota, Michigan, Kansas and Missouri.
"Aquila is a smaller company now and this reduction is a part of the commitment we made to streamline our organization, more accurately reflecting our smaller utility company," said Green. Stamm's responsibilities will be assigned to a number of other Aquila leaders.
"Keith has been a tremendous asset to this company, especially as we executed our repositioning strategies, and I will miss him both personally and professionally," Green added.
Stamm began his career at Aquila in 1983 as a staff engineer at our Sibley Generating Station. Between 1985 and 1995, he held various operating positions. In 1995, he was promoted to vice president, Energy Trading and in 1996, to vice president and general manager, Regulated Power. In 1997, Stamm moved to Australia to assume the role of chief executive officer of United Energy Limited, an affiliated electric distribution utility company that was subsequently listed on the Australian Stock Exchange in 1998. He returned to the United States in 2000 after being named chief executive officer of Aquila's Merchant Division. In November 2001, he was appointed president and chief operating officer of our Electric and Gas Utilities and in October 2002, Keith assumed his latest role as Chief Operating Officer of Aquila, Inc.
While at Aquila, Stamm served on a number of boards domestically and abroad including: United Energy and Alinta in Australia, United Networks in New Zealand, Midlands Electricity in the U.K. as well as Quanta Services, Everest Communications, the Missouri Energy Development Association and the University of Missouri -- Kansas City Board of Trustees. He is certified as a professional engineer and has a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Missouri, and an M.B.A. from Rockhurst University in Kansas City.
Based in Kansas City, Mo., Aquila owns electric power generation and operates electric and natural gas transmission and distribution networks serving approximately one million customers in Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska. More information is available at www.aquila.com.
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