Venita McCellon-Allen retires as president, COO of SWEPCO

Venita McCellon-Allen has retired as president and chief operating officer for Southwestern Electric Power Co. (SWEPCO). On Friday (May 4), the company of Columbus, Ohio-based American Electric Power (AEP), announced the retirement, which was effective immediately.

Malcolm Smoak, vice president of distribution region operations for SWEPCO, has been named interim president and chief operating officer until a permanent replacement is selected.

“We are extremely appreciative of Venita’s hard work, dedicated service and significant accomplishments on behalf of SWEPCO, AEP and Central and Southwest (CSW) over the last three decades. We wish her the very best in retirement,” said Nicholas Akins, AEP chairman, president and CEO.

McCellon-Allen has worked for AEP for 30 years, including 13 years with subsidiaries of the company and 17 years with CSW, according to a news release. In 1983, she started as communications representative before being promoted to work in the customer service organization. In 1994, she was 34 years old when she became central division manager. In 1995, she was promoted to vice president at CSW and in her career there as an executive, she led corporate human resources, customer service and strategy. She was part of the strategy tem for the AEP and CSW merger and led CSW’s role on the merger transition management team, which handled the work processes, operations and organizations for the merger.

Following the merger, McCellon-Allen went to work for Baylor Health Care System in Dallas, Texas, and was senior vice president of human resources from 2000 to 2004. In 2004, she returned to AEP as senior vice president of shared services. In 2006, she became president and chief operating officer for SWEPCO. In 2008, she was promoted to executive vice president for AEP and had oversight of AEP’s utility subsidiaries. From 2008 to 2010, the seven AEP operating companies reported to McCellon-Allen. In 2010, she returned as president of SWEPCO and served in the position until she retired. Between 2010 and 2017, she also was responsible for leading the executive team at AEP Texas.