GPU Board named one of best of '94 by "Chief Executive" Magazine.PARSIPPANY, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 5, 1994--The Board of Directors of General Public Utilities Corp. (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange :GPU GPU: see secret police. (Graphics Processing Unit) A specialized logic chip devoted to rendering 2D or 3D images. Display adapters contain one or more GPUs for fast graphics rendering. ) has been named by "Chief Executive" magazine one of the five best corporate boards of 1994. GPU was the only electric utility named to "Chief Executive's" top five list, which included Colgate-Palmolive Co., Texaco Inc., the Boeing Co., and General Motors Corp. In its November/December issue, "Chief Executive" cited the GPU board's "makeup makeup In the performing arts, material used by actors for cosmetic purposes and to help create the characters they play. Not needed in Greek and Roman theatre because of the use of masks, makeup was used in the religious plays of medieval Europe, in which the angels' faces , compared with other public utilities reviewed," as "exceptionally talented, experienced and independent." "GPU's reputation was tarnished in 1979 by problems with its Three Mile Island nuclear facility. This type of incident tries the strength of a company and its board - and is a continuing test for many years," said the authors of the article, Robert W. Lear, executive-in-residence, Columbia Business School Columbia Business School (part of Columbia University), officially named the Columbia University Graduate School of Business, and also known as CBS, was established in 1916 to provide business training and professional preparation for undergraduate and graduate and former chief executive, the F.& M. Schaeffer Corp., and Boris Yavitz, dean emeritus e·mer·i·tus adj. Retired but retaining an honorary title corresponding to that held immediately before retirement: a professor emeritus. n. pl. and former professor of public policy and business strategy, also at Columbia. James R. Leva, chairman, president and chief executive officer of GPU, said, "I am pleased that we have been recognized by `Chief Executive' magazine. "Our board members are well aware of the challenges facing the electric utility industry in an increasingly competitive environment, and they bring a wide range of tough-minded business management, public policy and executive leadership talent to GPU. "Together, the board and I focus on providing the shareholders with a fair return on their investment by providing superior customer service through our diverse and highly talented workforce," Leva said. In their review of 200 corporate boards, Lear and Yavitz examined both strong and weak boards. "Strong boards evaluate and reward management's performance; formulate and implement corporate strategy; ensure equity among all corporate constituencies, and select competent directors, committee chairs and board agenda," they wrote. "By comparison, weak boards usually are inhibited or constrained con·strain tr.v. con·strained, con·strain·ing, con·strains 1. To compel by physical, moral, or circumstantial force; oblige: felt constrained to object. See Synonyms at force. 2. by specific composition - such as too many inside directors, too many conflicts of interest, and too little diversity." Besides Leva, who is the only GPU employee on the corporate board, members of GPU's board are Louis J. Appell Jr., president and chief executive officer, Susquehanna Pfaltzgraff The Susquehanna Pfaltzgraff Company is a conglomerate of companies that started in the 19th century with Johann George Pfaltzgraff's emigration from Germany to York, Pennsylvania (in the Susquehanna Valley). Co.; Donald J. Bainton, chairman, chief executive officer and a director of Continental Can Co. Inc.; Theodore H. Black, director and retired chairman and chief executive officer, Ingersoll-Rand Co. Also, Thomas B. Hagen, chairman, Hagen & Co.; Henry F. Henderson Jr., president, chief executive officer and director, H.F. Henderson Industries; John M. Pietruski, chairman, Texas Biotechnology Corp. and former chairman and chief executive officer, Sterling Drug Inc. And, Catherine A. Rein, executive vice president, Metropolitan Life Insurance Co.; Paul R. Roedel, director and former chairman and chief executive officer, Carpenter Technology Corp.; Carlisle A. H. Trost, Admiral, U.S.N. (ret.), former chief of naval operations chief of naval operations n. pl. chiefs of naval operations Abbr. CNO The ranking officer of the U.S. Navy, responsible to the secretary of the Navy and to the President. , and Dr. Patricia K. Woolf, consultant, lecturer and author, and a member of the molecular biology molecular biology, scientific study of the molecular basis of life processes, including cellular respiration, excretion, and reproduction. The term molecular biology was coined in 1938 by Warren Weaver, then director of the natural sciences program at the Rockefeller department, Princeton University Princeton University, at Princeton, N.J.; coeducational; chartered 1746, opened 1747, rechartered 1748, called the College of New Jersey until 1896. Schools and Research Facilities . GPU is a registered electric utility holding company. Its three operating utility subsidiaries - Jersey Central Power and Light, Metropolitan Edison and Pennsylvania Electric - provide electric service to more than 1.9 million customers in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. CONTACT: General Public Utilities Corp. John T. Fiddler, 201/263-6479 |
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