Industry & Services >> CEO Interviews >> April 27, 1999

Thomas M. Matthews – Avista Corporation (ava)

THOMAS M. MATTHEWS is the Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer for Avista Corp. Effective July 1, 1998, he joined the company and is only the fourth person to serve as Avista Corp.'s board chairman since the company emerged from holding company control in the early 1950s. Prior to joining Avista Corp., Mr. Matthews served as the president of Houston-based Dynegy, formerly NGC Corporation. He was responsible for oversight of Dynegy's worldwide operations: its gas liquids and gas pipeline subsidiary, the company's international division; the company's power division; and the corporate merger and acquisition, legal, regulatory, and information technology functions. Mr. Matthews previously held the position of vice president of Texaco, Inc., president of Texaco's Global Gas and Power Division, and president and chief executive officer of Texaco Natural Gas, where he was responsible for worldwide power, natural gas processing, gas liquids, gas pipelines and gas sales and marketing operations. Prior to joining Texaco, he spent eight years with Tenneco as president of Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company and executive vice president of Tenneco Gas. He also spent 16 years with Exxon in various domestic and international engineering, management and executive positions. Mr. Matthews received his Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering from Texas A&M University in 1965. He has completed postgraduate training in petroleum and natural gas engineering at the University of Oklahoma and executive business training at Stanford and Columbia Universities. Mr. Matthews serves on boards of a number of organizations, including the Advisory Council for the Texas A&M University and Texas A&M Vision 2020 Committee. Profile
TWST: Could you begin by giving us a brief overview of Avista, your

history, products, services, customers, those kinds of things?

Mr. Matthews: Avista is a 110 year old traditional utility