Talen Energy Names Andy Wright as GC

© 2018 The Texas Lawbook.

By Mark Curriden

(June 8) – The Woodlands-based Talen Energy has hired former Energy Future Holdings General Counsel Andy Wright as its new top lawyer.

Wright started his new position as general counsel and corporate secretary at Talen Energy this week after 14 years at EFH in Dallas.

“I’m still drinking through a fire hose and I have so much to learn about the company’s operations and its people,” Wright told The Texas Lawbook in an interview. “After a couple days, I do now know where the bathroom is and how to turn on my computer. Fortunately, the company already has some good lawyers that I can lean on.”

Talen Energy moved its headquarters from Allentown, Pennsylvania to The Woodlands about 18 months ago when the private equity firm Riverstone Holdings bought the power company for $5.2 billion.

Wright, who is received his Bachelor of Business Administration from Southern Methodist University in 1990 and his law degree from the University of Notre Dame in 1996, worked as a transactional lawyer in the EFH corporate legal department from 2004 through March 2018.

During the past five years, he played a key role in the bankruptcy and restructuring of EFH, including the sale of Oncor Electric for $18 billion earlier this year.

The Association of Corporate Counsel’s DFW Chapter and The Texas Lawbok named Wright and former EFH GC Stacey Dore as 2017 General Counsel of the Year for their handling of the company’s $45 billion restructuring.

“Of all the positions that I considered, I liked this job because the senior leadership is great and fun to work with and it is exciting to get to work with incredibly smart folks at Riverstone,” he said. “It helps that this is an industry I already know well.”

Wright has three lawyers working with him on the Talen in-house legal team, including:

• Tom Douglass has been a lawyer at Talen and its predecessor company, PPL Corp., for more than a decade, including the past three years as acting general counsel;
• Damon Obie is associate general counsel; and
• Ashley Tufts is a senior counsel and former corporate counsel at Nalco Champion.

Douglass and Obie are in the process of relocating to Texas from Allentown, while Wright is moving from Dallas.

Wright said he also looks forward to working with Riverstone General Counsel Stephen Coats. The pair worked together 14 years ago at Vinson & Elkins, where Tufts also worked as an associate.

V&E represented Riverstone in its acquisition of Talen Energy, while Kirkland & Ellis partner Andy Calder in Houston was the lead lawyer for Talen Energy.

Wright also worked with Kirkland and Calder in the EFH restructuring, as Calder was the lead lawyer in the sale of Oncor to Sempra Energy, which closed in March.

Talen Energy also uses Skadden Arps, Bracewell and McDermott for some of its outside legal work.

For other coverage see here and here.

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