FirstEnergy Corp.

Greetings. Welcome to First Energy Corporation's third quarter 2020 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A brief question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. If anyone should require operator assistance during the conference, please press star zero on your telephone keypad. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Irene Prezel, Vice President of Investor Relations for First Energy Corp. Thank you, Ms. Prezel. You may begin.

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to our third quarter earnings call. Today we will make various forward-looking statements regarding revenues, earnings, performance, strategies, and prospects. These statements are based on current expectations and are subject to risk and uncertainties. that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by such statements can be found on the investor section of our website under the earnings information link and in our SEC filings. I would also call your attention to a new risk factor that is included in the 8K we filed this morning. We will also discuss certain non-GAAP financial measures, reconciliations between GAAP and non-GAAP financial measures, can be found on the First Energy Investor Relations website, along with the presentation which supports today's discussion. Participants in today's call include our Executive Director, Chris Pappas, Acting Chief Executive Officer, Steve Straw, and Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, John Taylor. We also have several other executives available to join us for the Q&A session. For those of you who do not know Chris, He has been an independent member of the First Energy Board since 2011, and he retired in 2019 as President and Chief Executive Officer of Trinzio SA. I'll turn it over now to Chris.

Thank you, Irene, and good morning, everyone. I appreciate the opportunity to participate in today's call. I'm going to start out by discussing the leadership transition the company announced last week, my role with the company, and the Board's governance efforts. First, I will note that the DOJ investigation prompted a number of shareholder and customer lawsuits, and we are also responding to a subpoena we received from the SEC on September 2nd related to the investigation into First Energy by the SEC Division of Enforcement. We are cooperating with the DOJ and the SEC. During the course of our internal review related to the ongoing government investigation regarding House Bill 6, the Independent Review Committee of the Board determined that three executives violated certain first energy policies and its code of conduct. When we determine that employee conduct is inconsistent with our policy and values, no matter how senior the individual, We have a duty to take action, and that is what we have done here. As a result, First Energy announced on Thursday that CEO Chuck Jones, along with Dennis Chack, Senior Vice President of Product Development, Marketing, and Branding, and Mike Dowling, Senior Vice President of External Affairs, were all terminated effective immediately. Concurrently, Steve Straw, who many of you know from his roles as First Energy's president and previously CFO, was appointed acting CEO. Steve has the experience, credibility, and the support of the board in this role. Steve is a highly respected executive with deep knowledge of First Energy's business and significant operational experience. He became president in May 2020 as part of the company's ordinary course succession planning process. In his various leadership roles at the company, including his recent tenure as CFO and president, Steve has supported the execution of First Energy's long-term customer-focused growth strategy and demonstrated his commitment to delivering value to all stakeholders, including employees, customers, communities, and shareholders. I look forward to working closely with him in my new role as executive director. In this role, I remain an independent member of the board and will also work closely with Don Mishef, our non-executive chairman, to assist management teams' execution of strategic initiatives, to engage with the company's external stakeholders, including the investment community, as appropriate, and to support the development of enhanced controls and governance policies and procedures. The Board is already conducting a full review of its governance and oversight processes to look for areas of improvement going forward. This is a serious matter for our Board and for FIRST Energy Management. In order to address this in a timely and effective way, the Board has formed a new subcommittee of our Audit Committee to quickly assess and implement potential changes, as appropriate, in the company's compliance program. This effort will be led by independent Board member Leslie Turner. Leslie retired as Senior Vice President, General Counsel, and Corporate Secretary of the Hershey Company. She joined our Board in 2018 and is a member of the Audit and Compensation Committees. This new subcommittee will work with management, internal audit, and also engage outside expertise for help and best practices. As I previously mentioned, we have and will continue to cooperate with the DOJ and SEC investigations. We have also reached out to companies' key stakeholders, including the ratings agencies, banks, regulators, legislators, and union leadership. We believe the actions the Board has taken represent an additional step towards addressing these matters and enables First Energy's management to continue to focus on running the business day to day. First Energy embarked on a strategy several years ago to become a fully regulated company and grow through the substantial opportunities available in both the distribution and transmission businesses. That strategy will continue. It is working, and the foundational drivers are intact. The first energy organization at large has been delivering excellent results over the last few years, and that continues with the strong performance year to date and the company's expectations for the full year. As we look ahead, the Board has full confidence in Steve and the rest of the team's ability to ensure a seamless transition and to continue to execute the company's strategy. With that, I'll now turn it over to Steve.