CENTERPOINT ENERGY ANNOUNCES ITS SENIOR LEADERSHIP TEAM

This morning CenterPoint Energy (CNP) announced its senior leadership team that will take effect when CNP completes its merger with Vectren.  Although Vectren and CNP will continue to operate separately until the merger officially closes, today’s news is a critical step in the integration planning process that has been underway since earlier this summer.

As we reported when we announced the merger in April, two of the eight members of the senior leadership team reporting to CenterPoint Energy CEO Scott Prochaska will be based in Evansville, Ind.  These two include Scott Doyle, currently CenterPoint Energy’s senior vice president of natural gas distribution, who will lead the combined company’s natural gas utility business. He will be responsible for the company’s 8-state, 4.5 million-customer natural gas operations utility footprint, natural gas supply, natural gas engineering, and operations support. In addition, Doyle will oversee the enterprise customer organization, including utility sales and marketing.  The second Evansville-based executive is Lynnae Wilson, Vectren ’s current vice president of energy delivery, who will lead the Indiana electric business for CNP. In this role, she will be responsible for power generation operations and construction, transmission and distribution operations, electric engineering, Midwest Independent System Operator (MISO) and wholesale power marketing, key account management, and integrated resource planning. Wilson has been with Vectren since 2003. Prior to being named a Vectren vice president, Wilson served as director of engineering and systems operations and as the director of Vectren’s A.B. Brown electric generating plant, among other key utility operations roles. You can read more about CNP’s senior leadership team in the press release issued today by clicking here.

Please note that the leaders of the Vectren subsidiaries – Energy Systems Group, Miller Pipeline, and Minnesota Limited – will report to Joe Vortherms, the competitive businesses executive referenced in the news release.  The headquarters locations for these three subsidiaries are Newburgh, Ind., Indianapolis, Ind., and Minneapolis, MN respectively, and will remain the same after the merger with CNP.

As a reminder, we expect the merger transaction to close in the first quarter of 2019. We have completed nearly all the milestones to approve the merger. Prior to the transaction closing, Vectren’s existing senior executive team continues to lead operations at Vectren.

Integration teams comprised of Vectren and CNP personnel are busy preparing for Day 1 of the merger to ensure the newly combined company transitions well and continues to provide safe, reliable energy delivery for our customers. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns with today’s announcement. We will keep you informed as this integration planning process is finalized and the transaction closes.  We will be scheduling time in the near future for members of the leadership team to be introduced.

They still plan to move the ship downriver where the Tropicana Riverboat Casino used to be located and build a new visitor’s center leading out to the ship.

Not everyone at the committee hearing signed off on the plans.

Representatives from the Water and Sewer Department want to go over the proposed visitor center in more detail before giving their final approval.

The VHS is hosting an adopt-a-thon on Friday & Saturday, December 14^th & 15^th. The goal is simple: to find homes for as many adoptable animals in the building as possible! The building will be decorated in a holiday Rudolph theme, hence the name “Island of Misfit Pets.”

All adoption fees for dogs, cats, and rabbits will be 50% off. (There will most likely not be puppies available.) The event will kick off at 12:00 pm on Friday, December 14^th. All hands will be on deck for this event including all staff members and a host of volunteers. Adoption hours are 12:00-6:00 pm both days.

Without this event, each VHS shelter animal would spend Christmas Eve in a cage or small room. They will receive a few minutes of extra treats and pets, but ultimately the staff must turn off the lights and leave for the night. The staff and volunteers’ dream is to see those animals instead spend Christmas snuggled in a warm bed with humans who love them. Each one of them deserves that.

The VHS would like to reassure the public that all normal adoption procedures will still be in place.

• All adopters must fill out an adoption application and provide a valid photo ID
• VHS Adoption Counselors and/or volunteers help families to choose a pet that is an ideal match for their family based on ages and personalities of family members, living situations, financial situations, other pets in the home, and so on
• Each adopter will sign a legal binding contract, as they always have, to care for the animal for its lifetime, provide it with veterinary care, and return it to VHS if they are ever unable to keep it
• VHS has always and will continue to reserve the right to deny adoptions for any reason.
• Those who have used our emergency food pantry within the past year are not permitted to adopt.

The fact of the matter is, VHS can never guarantee with 100% certainty that every animal is entering a permanent, loving home. Even if each animal cost 1 million dollars to adopt, someone who could afford
that fee is still perfectly capable of abusing that animal. All any animal welfare group can do is trust the internal controls they have in place, have conversations with adopters in order to make good matches, and have faith in the people that they are entrusting with their dear shelter pets’ lives. Media promotion for events like these attract families who simply may not have known where VHS was or who may have been considering adoption at other places.

Anyone age 18+ can adopt from the Vanderburgh Humane Society, including those who do not live in Vanderburgh County. If a person can make the trip to the facility and transport the animal back home with them, they can adopt no matter where they live. VHS has no residency requirements for adoption!

Please note that the VHS will be spaying/neutering as many animals as possible ahead of the event, but any newer animals who aren’t yet fixed must stay to have surgery before going home.

As of December 3^rd at noon, VHS has more than 200 cats, 80 dogs, and 20 rabbits in their care. They regularly lose money on each adoption (an average of $100 per animal). An event like this will cost the shelter well over $10,000 in testing, vaccinations, spay/neuter surgeries, microchips, staff time, food, and lost adoption fees. The current focus is to seek business or individual donors to underwrite costs. Ultimately, VHS’ goal is to find homes for every animal in their care. But they must also keep the doors open so that they can continue to help more homeless animals long after the ones they have are gone. They cannot do events like these without financial support from the community.

The VHS implores those who cannot adopt, to sponsor an adoption instead. $130 pays for an adoption fee for one dog or up to threecats/rabbits. Those who wish to help us continue to save more lives can visit www.vhslifesaver.org/donate to make an easy, secure tax-deductible donation.

The Happy Tails Resale Shop will also be open 8:30 am – 3:00 pm on Saturday, December 15^th. The public is encouraged to bring some extra money to shop and find some great deals! Cash, Visa, MasterCard, and Discover accepted.

There will be no Low-Cost Vaccine Clinic on Saturday, December 15^th.

The VHS encourages the public that if they see an animal up for adoption that they like right now, not to wait until this event. No animals will be held for any reason before or during the event. Those who wish to adopt ahead of time and pay regular adoption fees will have a much larger selection and avoid the large crowds.

To arrange a live remote or photo opportunity, contact Amanda or Kendall at the information above.