Jeff - Congratulations!

Will you be attending BillG's CEO Summit 2001 instead of Ken?

Best regards/Alan

Alan Mitchell
General Manager, Communication Network Solutions
Network Solutions Group
Microsoft
425-703-5485
425-936-7329 (fax)
alanmit@microsoft.com
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> WSJ.COM WRAP: Skilling To Become Enron's Next CEO
>
> 12/13/2000
> Dow Jones News Service
> (Copyright (c) 2000, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.)
>    A WSJ.com News Roundup
>
> HOUSTON -(Dow Jones)- Enron Corp. (ENE) on Wednesday named Jeffrey K.
> Skilling chief executive to replace Kenneth L. Lay, who said he will step
> down but continue to serve as chairman of the utility and
> telecommunications company.
> Skilling, 47 years old, will take on the new role on Feb. 12, the
> company's next scheduled board meeting, while remaining president and
> chief operating officer.
> "Jeff is a big part of Enron's success and is clearly ready to lead the
> company," Lay, 58, said in a written statement. Lay became chairman and
> chief executive in 1986.
> Lay also denied rumors that he was interested in becoming U.S. secretary
> of energy or Treasury secretary in George W. Bush's administration, should
> the Texas governor become the next president. Enron and Lay were big
> contributors to the Bush campaign.
> "I have no plans to go to Washington and no plans to leave Houston or
> Enron," he said. "I can say categorically that I won't be taking a job in
> a Bush cabinet."
> "I am particularly happy that Ken and I will continue running the company
> together and that he has put the rumors of his possible departure to
> Washington, D.C., to rest," Skilling said. "Ken and I have worked together
> since 1990, and we don't want to break up a team that has delivered
> superior returns to Enron's shareholders."
> Skilling is credited as generating substantial profits for Enron and being
> the brains behind the company's burgeoning commodities-trading business.
> That business was seeking to place the company at the top of markets
> ranging from electricity to wood pulp to natural gas.
> Enron, which began as a traditional gas-pipeline company 15 years ago, has
> transformed itself into the largest trader of gas and electricity in North
> America.
> Skilling joined Enron in 1990 after leading McKinsey & Co.'s energy and
> chemical consulting operations. He became Enron's president and operating
> chief in December 1996. He emerged as the heir apparent to Lay after
> Rebecca Mark resigned in August as chief executive of Azurix Corp. (AZX),
> Enron's troubled global water company. Deregulation of the water business
> and government privatizations of water systems, on which Azurix was
> counting, were slow to come, crimping growth opportunities and profit.
>
>