Aquila Names New Management Team for Its European Operations.

Business Editors

KANSAS CITY, Mo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 27, 2001

Janine McArdle has been named managing director of Aquila Europe, the European energy trading, wholesaling and risk management organization of Aquila, Inc. (NYSE:ILA), one of the largest energy merchant organizations in North America.

Based in London, McArdle, who has more than two decades of experience in the energy industry, will oversee all of the company's energy merchant activities in the United Kingdom and Western Europe. Aquila Europe has been active in the European energy market for more than 10 years offering wholesale services. The company also owns and operates a natural gas storage facility in the UK. McArdle succeeds Jeff Michnowski, who is returning to the United States in a new position with UtiliCorp United, which currently owns 80 percent of Aquila.

Additionally, the company has named Brock Shealy, currently senior vice president for Aquila's Human Resources, to the new position of Director, Administration for Aquila Europe. Shealy also will be based in London and will be responsible for human resources, information technology, internal and external communication, finance, facilities and legal activities. Both moves are effective at the beginning of the new year.

McArdle joined Aquila in 1993 and for several years assisted in building the company's North American marketing and trading activities. McArdle was instrumental in forming an energy consortium consisting of six companies that obtained an equity position in the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), launching it into the online energy trading business. As a result of this move, ICE today is one of the leading online energy trading platforms in the business. More recently, McArdle was Assistant General Manager of Aquila's commodity services business. She holds a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from the University of Nebraska and a master's degree from the University of Houston.

Previously, Shealy served as director of employee relations for UtiliCorp United, Inc. Before joining UtiliCorp he was a partner with the law firm Blackwell Sanders Peper Martin. Shealy earned his bachelor's in psychology from Drury College and earned a J.D. from the University of Missouri Kansas City.

Michnowski will return to the United States at the beginning of the new year in the role of UtiliCorp vice president and Aquila senior vice president of trading risk management. Michnowski's responsibilities incorporate trading floor risk management, trade policy compliance for all UtiliCorp companies, as well as overseeing various risk management issues for both companies.

Michnowski has lead Aquila's European operations since September 1998, significantly expanding the company's merchant activities both in the UK and into continental Europe. Before moving to London, Michnowski was Aquila's vice president, risk management. Prior to joining Aquila he was vice president, options trading with Prudential Securities. He holds a bachelor's degree in business administration from Rutgers College and an MBA from Baruch College.

As a result of the key changes in Europe, Aquila has made several other organizational changes. They are:

Elaine McCoy assumes the responsibilities for Aquila's North American human resources activities. Most recently she was responsible for the human resource activities of UtiliCorp Communications Services, a builder and supplier of broadband communication services to businesses and homeowners in Kansas City suburbs. She has more than 20 years' human resource experience in the energy industry. McCoy holds a bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of Missouri, Columbia, and an MBA from the University of Missouri, Kansas City.

Tim Raburn, currently vice president and general manage of Aquila's gas origination, becomes assistant general manager of Commodity Services, replacing McArdle. Before joining Aquila he held positions with ARCO and Vastar Gas Marketing. He holds bachelor's degrees in engineering chemistry and petroleum engineering from the University of Tulsa.

David Stevenson, currently the senior vice president of power origination for Aquila, will assume the same responsibilities for gas origination. He has held positions with Duke Power Company and Duke/Louis Dreyfus. He holds a bachelor's degree from Virginia Tech in civil engineering.

Based in Kansas City, Aquila is a provider of risk management services and a wholesaler of electricity and natural gas in North America. It also provides wholesale energy services in the United Kingdom and has a presence in Germany and Scandinavia. Aquila is an 80 percent-owned subsidiary of UtiliCorp United (NYSE: UCU), an international energy company with more than 4 million customers across the U.S. and in Canada, the U.K., New Zealand and Australia. Additional information is available at www.aquila.com.