FirstEnergy, CNX Resources Appoint New Law Department Leaders

FirstEnergy Corp. and CNX Resources Corp., providers of electric power and natural gas, have brought on two new top lawyers to start 2021.

Two months after parting ways with former chief legal officer Robert Reffner and chief ethics officer Ebony Yeboah-Amankwah, FirstEnergy announced Tuesday its hire of Hyun Park as head of the company’s law efforts.

Park comes to FirstEnergy from LimNexus, a boutique law firm he joined in San Francisco two years ago as a corporate partner and general counsel. He is a former Latham & Watkins partner and general counsel for Pacific Gas and Electric Co., Allegheny Energy Inc., and Sithe Energies Inc.

“I’m pleased to join FirstEnergy at this time of change and share the company’s commitment to fostering trust and transparency at all levels,” Park said in a statement. He didn’t respond to a request for comment about his new role.

The Akron, Ohio-based utility changed its legal leadership after it was swept up in a federal bribery probe. Before his departure, Reffner had been an in-house veteran promoted by the company to legal chief in May 2020.

Park plans to relocate from northern California to northeast Ohio “in the near future,” FirstEnergy spokeswoman Jennifer Young said. One of Park’s first priorities will be to find a new chief ethics and compliance officer, she added.

The utility, which last year elevated former senior corporate counsel Mary Swann to assistant general counsel and corporate secretary, is currently hiring for a state regulatory attorney position in Akron.

Reyes to CNX

Across the Ohio border in Pennsylvania, CNX Resources has brought back former in-house lawyer Alexander Reyes as general counsel and corporate secretary.

Neither Reyes nor CNX Reyes responded to requests for comment about his new role, which Reyes has noted on his LinkedIn profile. CNX’s website states that Reyes rejoined the Canonsburg, Pa.-based company Dec. 21.

Reyes previously spent more than 14 years as an in-house lawyer and vice president of land at CNX and CONSOL Energy Inc. CONSOL and CNX separated in 2017.

He left CNX last year to join Leech Tishman Fuscaldo & Lampl, where Reyes was a partner and chair of the Pittsburgh-based firm’s corporate practice until December.

Reyes replaces former CNX general counsel and corporate secretary Stephanie Gill, who was announced Tuesday as the new chief legal officer and corporate secretary at Vertiv Holdings Co. Gill didn’t respond to a request for comment about joining Vertiv, a Columbus, Ohio-based maker of electrical equipment for database centers.

“From day one, I will be squarely focused on serving as a true business partner balancing business risks appropriately against business objectives,” Gill said in a company statement.

A Vertiv spokeswoman confirmed to Bloomberg Law that Gill has taken over from Colin Flannery, a former general counsel who is no longer with the company. Flannery didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Vertiv, formerly owned by Emerson Electric Co., was acquired for $4 billion in 2016 by buyout firm Platinum Equity LLC in 2016. Vertiv went public again last year by merging with blank-check company GS Acquisition Holdings Corp., an affiliate of the Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

Securities filings show that going-public transaction generated at least $250,000 in legal fees and expenses for the special purpose acquisition vehicle’s lawyers from Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. Morgan, Lewis & Bockius and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher advised Platinum Equity and Vertiv on the deal.