Gale Klappa has taken over the role of chief executive officer as WEC Energy Group Inc.’s Allen Leverett continues to recover from a stroke last month.
Klappa, 67, was chief executive officer of WEC and its predecessor, Wisconsin Energy Corp., from 2004 to May 2016, when Leverett succeeded him. Klappa was installed as interim CEO on Oct. 12 when the company announced CEO Leverett had been hospitalized. This week, WEC amended the appointment to remove Klappa’s interim title. The board voted on Klappa’s appointment as chairman and CEO on Nov. 9.
Leverett, 51, has been released from the hospital and is undergoing rehabilitation including speech therapy. There is no estimate in terms of when he would be ready to return to WEC.
Klappa’s compensation for his new duties has not been established.
With six utilities serving 4.4 million electric and natural gas customers in four states, WEC Energy Group is one of the largest utilities – and one of the largest corporations – in the country. It has about $30 billion in assets, 8,500 employees and 55,000 stockholders of record.
