CALGARY, AB, May 8, 2023 /CNW/ - AltaGas Ltd. ("AltaGas" or the "Company") (TSX: ALA) today announced the appointment of Vern Yu as the company's next President and Chief Executive Officer, effective July 1, 2023. Mr. Yu will also join AltaGas' Board of Directors at the same time. The announcement follows an extensive global search process conducted by the Transition Committee of the Board, which included the evaluation of highly qualified internal and external candidates and was aided with the support of a global executive search firm.
"Vern is a highly capable and seasoned leader with three decades of experience across the energy infrastructure value chain, including the Utilities and Midstream markets, and we are excited to have him join the AltaGas team," said Pentti Karkkainen, Board Chair at AltaGas. "Known as a strong and engaged leader that empowers people, Vern is well-regarded for his strategic mindset, commercial acumen, and intimate knowledge of the North American energy infrastructure markets. The Board believes Vern's strong experience across a wide range of commercial, operational, and financial leadership roles, including lower-carbon ventures, will be instrumental in advancing AltaGas' corporate strategy of operating long-life infrastructure assets that connect customers and markets and are positioned to provide resilient and durable value for AltaGas' stakeholders. Vern shares AltaGas' core values, has strong character, and will complement the Company's deep bench strength of senior leaders that have been internally developed and externally added in recent years to deliver strong and compounding stakeholder value creation in the years ahead."
Mr. Yu joins AltaGas after a successful three-decade career at Enbridge Inc. where he most recently served as Executive Vice President, Corporate Development, Chief Financial Officer and President, New Energy Technologies. During his three decades at Enbridge, Vern held various roles of increasing responsibility across the company, including its Utilities and Midstream segments with strong experience across Canadian and U.S. operations. This includes Mr. Yu previously serving as Executive Vice President and President, Liquids Pipelines and prior to that as Executive Vice President and Chief Development Officer. Over the past decade, Vern played a leading role in securing more than $30 billion in new growth projects, completion of the Line 3 replacement project, leading Enbridge's entry into European offshore wind market, and leading various acquisitions that were aligned with advancing Enbridge's corporate strategy.
"I am excited about the opportunity to lead AltaGas in the next chapter of its corporate life," said Mr. Yu. "AltaGas has a tremendous asset base in the U.S. and Canada that provides safe, reliable, and affordable energy to its customers, global connectivity for the Canadian energy industry, and is positioned to deliver strong corporate growth over the years ahead. AltaGas also has a long history of operating in a manner that fosters strong long-term partnerships with First Nations rightsholders, local communities, customers, and industry partners. I look forward to joining the highly capable senior leadership team at a company whose core values are aligned with my own personal principles, and I believe are the foundation for true long-term sustainability."
"On behalf of the Board of Directors, I would like to thank Randy Crawford for his leadership over the past four and a half years that has streamlined and focused AltaGas, de-leveraged the balance sheet, and drove operational excellence across the enterprise; all of which will be critical in delivering ongoing value in the years ahead, under Vern's leadership and guidance," said Mr. Karkkainen.
VERN YU's BIOGRAPHY
Vern Yu joins AltaGas after a successful three-decade career at Enbridge Inc. where he most recently served as Executive Vice President, Corporate Development, Chief Financial Officer and President, New Energy Technologies. During his three decades at Enbridge, Vern held various commercial, operational, and financial roles of increasing responsibility across the company. This includes Mr. Yu previously serving as Executive Vice President and President, Liquids Pipelines and prior to that as Executive Vice President and Chief Development Officer.
Vern is a Professional Engineer and holds a Master of Business Administration degree in Finance from the University of Toronto, as well as a Bachelor of Science degree in Applied Science from Queen's University. Vern serves on the Board of the Calgary Economic Development and is the Chair of the Enbridge Tour Alberta for Cancer. Vern previously served as the Vice Chair of the Alberta Cancer Foundation's Board of Trustees and served on the Boards of DCP Midstream and Énergir Inc.
ABOUT ALTAGAS
AltaGas is a leading North American infrastructure company that connects customers and markets to affordable and reliable sources of energy. The Company operates a diversified, lower-risk, high-growth Utilities and Midstream business that is focused on delivering resilient and durable value for its stakeholders.
For more information visit www.altagas.ca or reach out to one of the following:
Jon Morrison
Senior Vice President, Corporate Development and Investor Relations
Jon.Morrison@altagas.ca
Adam McKnight
Director, Investor Relations
Adam.McKnight@altagas.ca
Investor Inquiries
1-877-691-7199
investor.relations@altagas.ca
Media Inquiries
1-403-206-2841
media.relations@altagas.ca
FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION
This news release contains forward-looking information (forward-looking statements). Words such as "may", "can", "would", "could", "should", "will", "intend", "plan", "anticipate", "believe", "aim", "seek", "propose", "contemplate", "estimate", "focus", "strive", "forecast", "expect", "project", "target", "potential", "objective", "continue", "outlook", "vision", "opportunity" and similar expressions suggesting future events or future performance, as they relate to the Corporation or any affiliate of the Corporation, are intended to identify forward-looking statements. In particular, this news release contains forward-looking statements with respect to, among other things, business objectives, expected growth, results of operations, performance, business projects and opportunities and financial results. Specifically, such forward-looking statements included in this document include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the following: the anticipated effective time of Vern Yu's appointment as CEO and on the Board of Directors; and AltaGas' ability to execute its corporate strategy and achieve the expected outcomes therefrom.
AltaGas' forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties which could cause results or events to differ from current expectations, including, without limitation: risks related to conflict in Eastern Europe; health and safety risks; operating risks; infrastructure; natural gas supply risks; volume throughput; service interruptions; transportation of petroleum products; market risk; inflation; general economic conditions; cyber security, information, and control systems; climate-related risks; environmental regulation risks; regulatory risks; litigation; changes in law; Indigenous and treaty rights; dependence on certain partners; political uncertainty and civil unrest; decommissioning, abandonment and reclamation costs; reputation risk; weather data; capital market and liquidity risks; interest rates; internal credit risk; foreign exchange risk; debt financing, refinancing, and debt service risk; counterparty and supplier risk; technical systems and processes incidents; growth strategy risk; construction and development; underinsured and uninsured losses; impact of competition in AltaGas' businesses; counterparty credit risk; composition risk; collateral; rep agreements; market value of common shares and other securities; variability of dividends; potential sales of additional shares; labor relations; key personnel; risk management costs and limitations; commitments associated with regulatory approvals for the acquisition of WGL; cost of providing retirement plan benefits; failure of service providers; risks related to pandemics, epidemics or disease outbreaks, including COVID-19; and the other factors discussed under the heading "Risk Factors" in the Corporation's Annual Information Form for the year ended December 31, 2022 and set out in AltaGas' other continuous disclosure documents.
Many factors could cause AltaGas' or any particular business segment's actual results, performance or achievements to vary from those described in this press release, including, without limitation, those listed above and the assumptions upon which they are based proving incorrect. These factors should not be construed as exhaustive. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should assumptions underlying forward-looking statements prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described in this news release as intended, planned, anticipated, believed, sought, proposed, estimated, forecasted, expected, projected or targeted and such forward-looking statements included in this news release, should not be unduly relied upon. The impact of any one assumption, risk, uncertainty, or other factor on a particular forward-looking statement cannot be determined with certainty because they are interdependent and AltaGas' future decisions and actions will depend on management's assessment of all information at the relevant time. Such statements speak only as of the date of this news release. AltaGas does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update these forward-looking statements except as required by law. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are expressly qualified by these cautionary statements.
Additional information relating to AltaGas, including its quarterly and annual MD&A and Consolidated Financial Statements, AIF, and press releases are available through AltaGas' website at www.altagas.ca or through SEDAR at www.sedar.com
SOURCE AltaGas Ltd.
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