Talen Energy Pays Two Ex-V&E Lawyers Nearly $19 Million Jointly

Talen Energy Corp. paid more than $18.7 million in total compensation last year to Andrew Wright and John Wander, both of whom once worked at Vinson & Elkins, the power producer disclosed in a filing.

Wright earned about $9.8 million last year in a role overseeing the human resources, information technology, facilities and corporate security functions, according to an S-1 filing. Wander, who oversees all legal matters at Talen, received nearly $9 million during fiscal 2023, the document shows.

The bulk of both lawyers’ total compensation comes from stock awards in Talen valued at more than $7 million for each executive that vest over a three-year period. Wright received a $586,600 bonus, and Wander received one valued at $250,000, both of which were tied to the resolution last year of bankruptcy proceedings involving the company and agreed upon by its creditors.

Houston-based Talen, spun-off in 2015 from energy giant PPL Corp., is one of North America’s largest power generation and infrastructure companies. Talen and its energy supply unit emerged from Chapter 11 in May 2023.

The company, which until last year was backed by private equity firm Riverstone Holdings LLC, declined to comment.

Wright left Vinson in 2004 to join Dallas-based electric utility Energy Future Holdings Corp., where he held several roles, including general counsel, before joining Talen some 14 years later. He spent five years as Talen’s general counsel before becoming its chief administrative officer in June 2023.

Wander joined Talen as general counsel and corporate secretary that same month after almost three decades at Vinson, where he was a member of the prominent Texas law firm’s management committee, head of its Dallas office, and co-head of the litigation and regulatory practice. Wander was also general counsel for Vinson, which last year named Vanessa Griffith to succeed him.

Talen recruited Wander from Vinson after he “worked on some of the firm’s most high-profile, high-stakes litigation matters,” according to its filing.

During his roughly 30 years in private practice, all of which was spent at Vinson, Wander was a commercial litigator handling cases related to accounting, finance, and shareholder issues on behalf of clients in the energy, insurance, manufacturing, securities, and accounting industries, Talen said in the filing.

The company has turned to Vinson to handle more than 6% of its caseload in US federal courts within the last three years, according to Bloomberg Law data. Kirkland & Ellis recently counseled Talen on its $785 million sale of three natural gas plants in Texas to CPS Energy, which was advised by Dykema.