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Paul Chodak III is president and chief operating officer of Southwestern Electric Power Company (SWEPCO), serving approximately 439,000 customers in Louisiana, Arkansas and northeast Texas. He has authority for distribution operations and a wide range of customer and regulatory relationships.
Chodak began his career with AEP in 2001 as a senior project manager. In 2002, he was named director - Regional Engineering for Regulated Generation, working with the team providing engineering support of many of the SWEPCO plants. He was named managing director - Corporate Technology Development in 2003, and was part of the team that evaluated existing pollution control technologies and provided recommendations as to which technologies to implement to meet new and evolving environmental compliance requirements.
In 2004, he went on to help implement the environmental compliance plan as director - Environmental Programs, responsible for more than $2 billion of capital investments. He was part of the team responsible for the successful completion of the Mountaineer Plant flue gas desulfurization retrofit project. In early 2007, Chodak was named director - New Generation, responsible for the installation of several natural gas simple- and combined-cycle plants, as well as AEP’s IGCC program. He was part of the team that successfully commissioned the first two units at SWEPCO’s Mattison Plant in a very short seven months to meet customer demand.
Prior to joining AEP, he was a staff scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory conducting research on technology and policy issues surrounding nuclear power and proliferation risks. Chodak served more than seven years as a U.S. Naval submarine officer, earning numerous commendations and completing both submarine and chief engineer officer qualifications.
Chodak is a member of the American Nuclear Society and The Sigma Xi Research Society. He is also a past officer and current member of the Elks and his local church.
He received a doctorate degree in nuclear engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1996. He holds a master’s degree in civil engineering from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, and a bachelor of science degree in chemical engineering with honors from Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Chodak is a Project Management Institute certified Project Management Professional.
Chodak and his wife, Tami, will be relocating with their three daughters to the Shreveport, La., area.
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