10/22/2009

James S. Haines, Jr., a former CEO of two publicly traded utilities, was elected to ALLETE’S Board of Directors at its October 21, 2009 meeting.

From 2002 to 2007 Haines served as CEO and a Director of Westar Energy, the largest electric energy provider in Kansas, which serves more than 680,000 customers. Before joining Westar, Haines was the Skov Professor of Business Ethics at the University of Texas in El Paso.

From 1996 to 2001 Haines was CEO, president and a director of El Paso Electric Company (NYSE:EE). EPEC generates and distributes electricity to 360,000 customers in the Rio Grand Valley.

Haines served as executive vice president and chief administrative officer of Westar Energy from March 1992 until he was named chief operating officer in 1995. He served in that capacity until he joined El Paso Electric in May, 1996.

Haines is a 1975 graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia Law School. Upon Haines’ 2007 retirement from Westar, he was appointed the Clark Distinguished Professor of Business at Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas. He is a board member of Stormont-Vail HealthCare in Topeka and is chairman of the board of the Topeka Community Foundation.

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