Alexander, Anthony

If cities enjoy boasting about their native sons, then Akron has certainly earned bragging rights. Anthony Alexander, president and CEO of FirstEnergy Corp., has spent nearly all his life in the Rubber City. 

"I can't ever recall being enamored with another area of the country that had anything better than we have here," says Alexander. "The people in this area care about each other, and Northeast Ohio has almost every amenity you could hope for." 

Born in Akron in 1951, Alexander earned his bachelor's degree in ac­counting and a law degree from the University of Akron. He married a local girl, Becky, 34 years ago and raised four sons here. He began his career with Ohio Edison in 1972 and has remained with the company, which merged with Centerior Energy to form FirstEnergy in 1997.

Don't be fooled, however: The hometown champion is anything but provincial. "Tony is a generational thinker - a visionary," says Bill Considine, president and CEO of Akron Children's Hospital, who met Alexander in the early 1980s. "He's able to rally people around him to meet his vision."

That's critical for the leader of FirstEnergy, a $12.4 billion diversified energy company serving 4.5 million customers throughout Ohio, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. But when Alexander started in the tax department of Ohio Edison, he never dreamed he'd eventually sit at the helm of the country's fifth-largest, investor-owned electric system. "They offered me a job out of college, and it was a place to start," he says. 

Alexander moved to the legal de­partment as an attorney in 1976 and worked his way up the corporate ladder to executive vice president and general counsel in 1996. He served in the same position for FirstEnergy until 2000, before being named president. Alexander was president and COO between 2001 and 2004. He took over as CEO when H. Peter Burg, FirstEnergy's former chairman and CEO, died in January 2004. 

Considine says FirstEnergy has a history of attracting and nurturing great people like Alexander and Burg, another Akron native who worked for the company for more than 35 years and was inducted in the Northeast Ohio Business Hall of Fame posthu­mously in 2004. 

"If you look at Tony's mentors - the Peter Burgs of the world - when you work with those individuals, you can't help but have them rub off on you," says Considine. 

Alexander undoubtedly learned a lot at Burg's side. But he's also amply qualified to stand on his own merits. 

"Tony is a phenomenal strategic thinker," says Considine. "He has the innate ability to look at issues, see op­portunities in challenges and focus." 

Alexander has unfortunately been given chances to thrive under adversity. He inherited a company blamed for the August 2003 blackout that af­fected up to 50 million people in eight states and Canada. The month Alex­ander became CEO, the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission launched a formal investigation into the reliability of three of FirstEnergy's electric com­panies in that state. Earlier this year, FirstEnergy paid a $28 million fine for a dangerous incident at its Davis-Besse nuclear power plant in 2002. 

"Any company in history has certain problems it has to deal with," says Al­exander. "l look at those as individual challenges. You need to figure out what went wrong, how you can fix it and how you can make sure it doesn't happen again." 

The key to rebounding, he says, is employees. Alexander leads several employee empowerment initiatives, including Root Learning, which involves all employees in achieving corporate goals, and Taking the Stage, a series of leadership development workshops for women. 

"When I took over a couple years ago, I concentrated a lot on getting our workforce to understand their roles and responsibilities and focus on the future and full potential of this com­pany," he says. 

Last year, Alexander visited approximately 8,000 employees at more than 100 locations. "I enjoy talking to my people more than anything else," he says. "I've had the opportunity to meet the guys and gals that make this com­pany work on a day-to-day basis."

FirstEnergy is making great strides under Alexander's leadership. In 2005, it increased dividends, completed a $4 billion debt reduction program and landed on Forbes magazine's list of "America's Best Big Companies." 

Alexander is humble about his role: "My job is to set directives, allocate resources and make sure we hire the right people." The latter is one of three primary goals Alexander has established. FirstEnergy plans to hire approximately 1,000 people a year for the next five years to replace retirees and build a skilled, knowledgeable staff for the future. 

Alexander also plans to continue system-wide infrastructure improvements. Last year, the company launched a $600 million effort to replace and upgrade equipment to ensure reliable service to customers. Finally, Alexander wants to foster a more competitive marketplace. 

Despite deregulation of Ohio's elec­tric industry in 1999, consumers still have little choice "because the market price is higher than what we charge," says Alexander. "Ultimately, we need to move toward a competitive mar­ketplace. That's when customers will have choices." He says the underlying requirements for that, such as a robust wholesale market, are developing now. 

Even with his demanding schedule, Alexander still finds time to volunteer - and encourages employees to do likewise.

"If there's an issue that impacts Greater Akron and the business community needs to be a part of that, FirstEnergy and Tony Alexander will find a way to help," says Dan Colantone, president and CEO of the Greater Akron Chamber. Alexander is on the chamber's board of directors.

Through the years, Alexander has served on numerous local boards, including those of the YMCA, the University of Akron and Akron General Medical Center. "He lets his heart get tied into community organizations that advance health care, culture and other things that add to the quality of life," says Considine. "He makes a difference in the community."

Alexander is modest about his involvement, claiming he's no different than most folks in Northeast Ohio. 

"You see it day in and day out in Cleveland and Akron," he says. "When people are asked, they step up and work. We can't solve everything to­gether, but at least we try." 

That "can-do" philosophy has defined Alexander for five decades.