Governance

ALLETE is a publicly held company that operates in a complex, dynamic, competitive and regulated environment. ALLETE’s board of directors, accountable to its shareholders, is responsible for the direction and control of the company.

ALLETE Directors

Alan R. Hodnik, 53
Hermantown, Minn.

Director since 2009. Since joining the Company in 1982, has served as an Organizational Development Consultant, Co-Leader and Leader from 1989 to 1994. He also managed Laskin, Boswell and Taconite Harbor generating facilities from 1995 through 2004 and was named Vice President of Generation Operations in 2005, Senior Vice President – Minnesota Power Operations in 2006, and was promoted to Chief Operating Officer, with added responsibilities for Superior Water, Light and Power and BNI Coal in 2007. Named President of ALLETE in May of 2009. Was appointed by the board Feb. 8, 2010 to succeed Don Shippar as CEO effective May 1, 2010. He succeeded Shippar as Board Chairman on May 11, 2011. Hodnik serves on the boards of Essentia Health Systems East Region, PolyMet Mining, and APEX, a business development organization.

Bruce W. Stender Lead Director
Bruce W. Stender, 70
Duluth, Minn.

Director since 1995. Lead Director, Ex officio member of all committees. Vice Chair of Labovitz Enterprises, Inc. which owns and manages hotel and commercial real estate. Trustee of the C.K. Blandin Foundation and member of the Chancellor’s Advisory Committee for the University of Minnesota Duluth.

Director
Kathleen Brekken, 63
Cannon Falls, Minn.

Director since 2006. Member of the Executive Compensation Committee and the Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee. Retired President and CEO of Midwest of Cannon Falls, a designer, wholesaler and distributor of giftware. Served on the ALLETE Board of Directors from 1997 to 2003. Member of the St. Olaf College Board of Regents and a board member of the Cannon Falls Medical Center – Mayo Health System.

Director
Kathryn “Kitty” Dindo, 63
Akron, Ohio

Director since 2009. Member of the Audit Committee. Retired Vice President and Chief Risk Officer for FirstEnergy Corp., a diversified electric company. A certified public accountant, she was a partner at Ernst & Young and later served as a senior financial executive at Roadway Services, Inc. Has served as a director of The J.M. Smucker Company, Bush Brothers and Company and the GAR Foundation.

Director
Heidi J. Eddins, 56
St. Augustine, Fla.

Director since 2004. Member of the Audit Committee and the Governance and Nominating Committee. Former Executive Vice President, Secretary and General Counsel at Florida East Coast Railway, LLC, a successor to Florida East Coast Industries, Inc.'s transportation business. She also serves as a Director of the Flagler County Hospital Foundation.

Director
Sidney W. Emery, Jr., 66
Minneapolis, Minn.

Director since 2007. Member of the Executive Compensation Committee. Chief Executive Officer and owner of Supply Chain Services LLC, a provider of barcode scanning solutions. Former Chairman and CEO of MTS Systems Corp., a global supplier of mechanical testing systems and industrial position sensors. Director and member of the audit committee of Urologix, Inc., a manufacturer of minimally invasive medical products.

Director
George Goldfarb, 53
Duluth, Minn.

Director since 2012. Member of the Audit Committee. President of Duluth-based clothing retailer Maurices, a subsidiary of Ascena Realty Group, Inc., where he oversees operations at more than 800 retail stores in North America. Formerly worked in public accounting at Kolquist, Seitz and Goldman. A University of Minnesota-Duluth Accounting graduate, he has served on advisory boards of the Lake Superior Community Foundation and Woodland Hills, a Duluth-based non-profit agency providing services for young people.

Director
James S. Haines, Jr., 66
Lawrence, Kan.

Director since 2009. Member of the Executive Compensation Committee. Retired Chief Executive Officer of Westar Energy, the largest electric energy provider in Kansas. Former CEO of El Paso Electric Company. Board member of Stormont-Vail HealthCare in Topeka and Director and Treasurer of the Climate and Energy Project, a nonprofit organization that seeks to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the American heartland states.

Director
James J. Hoolihan, 59
Grand Rapids, Minn.

Director since 2006. Chair of the Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee. Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Industrial Lubricant Company, a provider of industrial suppllies and services to logging, railroad, taconite and coal mining industries. Former President and CEO of the Blandin Foundation, a private, philanthropic foundation whose mission is to strengthen communities in rural Minnesota, especially the Grand Rapids area. He is the former mayor of Grand Rapids, Minn.

Director
Madeleine W. Ludlow, 58
Cincinnati, Ohio

Director since 2004. Chair of the Executive Compensation Committee. Provides consulting services regarding investments in private equity transactions. Former principal of Market Capital Partners LLC and Ludlow Ward Capital Advisors, LLC, each an Ohio-based investment banking firm. Former Chairman, President and CEO of Cadence Network, Inc., a web-based provider of utility expense management services. Former vice president and CFO of Cinergy Corp.

Director
Douglas C. Neve, 57
Eden Prairie, Minn.

Director since 2007. Chairman of the Audit Committee and is a "financial expert" within the meaning of the rules of the SEC. A provider of financial consulting services, he is the former Chief Financial Officer of Minneapolis-based Ceridian Corp., a multinational human resources company, and former audit partner with Deloitte & Touche LLP, a public accounting firm. He has also served as a director of Analysts International Corp. and is currently its chair, and serves as a director and audit committee chair of Tyndale House Publishing, Inc.

Director
Leonard C. Rodman, 63
Overland Park, Kan.

Director since 2009. Member of the Audit Committee and the Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee. Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Black & Veatch, a major provider of engineering services to the utility, power generation, water and environmental industries. Board member of the Iowa State University Foundation.

ALLETE Officers

Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer
Alan R. Hodnik

Director since 2009. Joined the Company in 1982, and served as an Organizational Development Consultant, Co-Leader and Leader from 1989 to 1994. He managed Laskin, Boswell and Taconite Harbor generating facilities from 1995 through 2004 and was named Vice President of Generation Operations in 2005, Senior Vice President – Minnesota Power Operations in 2006, and was promoted to Chief Operating Officer, with added responsibilities for Superior Water, Light and Power and BNI Coal in 2007. Named President of ALLETE in May of 2009. Was appointed by the board Feb. 8, 2010 to succeed Don Shippar as CEO effective May 1, 2010. He succeeded Shippar as Board Chairman on May 11, 2011. Hodnik serves on the boards of Essentia Health Systems East Region, PolyMet Mining, and APEX, a business development organization.

Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer
Mark A. Schober

Joined the Company in 1978. Educated at the University of Minnesota-Duluth, he is a Certified Public Accountant and a Certified Management Accountant. Was named Director of Internal Audit in 1989 and became Corporate Controller in March of 1993. Named Corporate Vice President in 2001 and Senior Vice President in 2004. Appointed Chief Financial Officer in 2006.

Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary
Deborah A. Amberg

Joined the Company in 1990. Educated at the University of Minnesota and the University of Minnesota Law School. At ALLETE: Began as an attorney and was named Senior Attorney in 1998. Was named General Counsel, Corporate Secretary and Vice President of corporate legal services in 2004. She was promoted to Senior Vice President in 2006.

Senior Vice President, External Affairs
David J. McMillan

Joined the Company in 1989. Educated at the University of Minnesota-Duluth and the University of Minnesota Law School. At ALLETE: Served as an attorney from 1989 through 1997, when he was named Vice President of Customer Solutions. Was appointed Vice President, Strategic Accounts Marketing, in 2000 and Vice President of Customer Solutions and Strategic Accounts in 2001. Was named Senior Vice President in 2002. In 2003, he was named Senior Vice President of Marketing, Regulatory and Public Affairs. He was appointed to the additional position of Executive Vice President of Minnesota Power in 2006.

Vice President - Business Development and Chief Risk Officer
Robert Adams

Joined the company in 1987. A Certified Public Accountant, Adams earned a bachelor's degree and a Masters of Business Administration from the University of Minnesota Duluth. Named Chief Financial Officer and then President and CEO of Minnesota Power's Reach All subsidiary. In 1997, he became Director of Finance for Minnesota Power and was later named Vice President of Finance and Business Development. Appointed Chief Financial Officer of Minnesota Power and ALLETE Vice President-Utility Business Development in 2004, Adams was named VP-Business Development and Chief Risk Officer in 2008.

Controller, Vice President of Business Support
Steven Q. DeVinck

Joined the Company in 1997. Educated at the University of Wisconsin-Superior, and is a Certified Public Accountant. Served as Chief Accountant for Enbridge Energy U.S. At ALLETE: Named Assistant Controller in 1999. Beginning in 2004, he directed ALLETE’s non-utility business development efforts. Appointed Controller in 2006, he was promoted to Controller and Vice President of Business Support in 2009.

Vice President and Treasurer
Donald W. Stellmaker

Joined the Company in 1980. Educated at the University of Minnesota-Duluth. At ALLETE: Began as a load forecast analyst for Minnesota Power. Became a market research analyst in 1984 and was named financial analyst in 1985. Has served as Supervisor, Manager and Director of corporate financial planning and budgeting. Appointed Treasurer of ALLETE in 2004. Was named ALLETE Vice President in 2011.

Vice President, Investor Relations
Timothy J. Thorp

Joined the Company in 1978. Educated at the University of Minnesota-Duluth. At ALLETE: Named Manager of Shareholder Services in 1991. Was named Manager and then Director of Investor Relations. Was named Corporate Vice President in November of 2001.

Vice President - Human Resources
Bonnie Keppers

Joined the company in 2011. Holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Minnesota-Duluth, a Masters in Business Administration in Industrial Relations from the University of Minnesota and a Master's Certificate in Information Technology Project Management from George Washington University. From 1995 to 2011, she served in several Human Resources positions at Medtronic, a leading medical technology company. Keppers was Program Director in Medtronic's Office of Inclusion and Engagement, a Senior Human Resources Manager and a Systems Manager, among other roles. Prior to joining Medtronic, she was employed as a compensation and Human Resources information systems analyst by Cowles Media, Ecolab and the Carlson Companies.

ALLETE Principal Subsidiary Officers

President, ALLETE Clean Energy
Eric Norberg

Joined the Company in 1979. Educated at the University of Minnesota and the College of St. Scholastica, he is a Professional Engineer. Was named Manager of Strategic Fuels Planning and then Manager, and Director, of Large Industrial Marketing. In 1998 he was named Vice President of Minnesota Power and in 2000 became Vice President-Strategic Initiatives and Chief Operating Officer of MPEX. Was named Senior Vice President – Strategy and Planning in February of 2007. Appointed president of ALLETE subsidiary ALLETE Clean Energy in 2011.

Chief Operating Officer-MP
Brad Oachs

Joined the Company in 1989. Educated at Concordia College-Moorhead, North Dakota State University and the University of Minnesota-Duluth. He is a certified professional engineer, and served at Black and Veatch, Overland Park, Kan. At ALLETE/Minnesota Power: Was named Manager-Strategic Accounts in 2000. Oachs helped create the energy supply and asset optimization function and integrate the company into the Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator energy market. He was promoted to Vice President of Power Delivery and Transmission in 2007 and to Chief Operating Officer-Minnesota Power in 2009..