JCP&L Names New President to Replace Retiring Veteran

Jersey Central Power & Light will welcome a new president June 3.

James V. Fakult, formerly president of Maryland Operations for FirstEnergy Corp. (JCP&L's parent company) will succeed Don Lynch, who is retiring after more than 37 years with the company.

Fakult joined the company in 1987 as an associate marketing representative with Ohio Edison, another FirstEnergy subsidiary. Following a series of marketing-related promotions, he was named director of sales in 1999. In 2001, he was named director of Large Commercial & Industrial Segments and was later promoted to director of Customer Support. He was named general manager, Regional Operations Support, for Ohio Edison in 2008.

Following the FirstEnergy merger with Allegheny Energy in February 2011, Fakult was promoted to president of Maryland Operations. He earned a bachelor’s degree in marketing from Cleveland State University and a master’s degree in business administration from Ashland University.

“Jim has been an important member of our utility management team for years and was responsible for the smooth integration process we experienced in Maryland as a result of the merger,” said Charles E. Jones, senior vice president and president, FirstEnergy Utilities. “He has a proven track record of enhancing customer satisfaction and service reliability.”

Lynch joined JCP&L in 1976 as a power station engineer and was promoted to various management positions throughout the company’s generation operations. In the mid-1990s, Lynch began working on the utility side of the company, ultimately being named regional president of Central New Jersey for GPU in 2000. After the merger of FirstEnergy and GPU in 2001, Lynch was named president of the Central Region for JCP&L, and became regional president for Northern and Central regions in 2005. He was promoted to president of JCP&L in 2009.

“Don has been a valued member of JCP&L’s management team, and I will miss his knowledge, dedication, and the commitment to safe operations he instilled throughout the company,” Jones said.