Today, the company announced that Karen McClendon will join FirstEnergy as Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO), effective Nov. 11, 2024. Karen will report to Brian Tierney, President and Chief Executive Officer.

As SVP and CHRO, Karen will spearhead efforts to integrate and advance our human capital strategy, ensuring alignment with our strategic vision to establish FirstEnergy as a premier electric company. She will oversee our key human resources functions, including talent management, benefits and compensation, labor and employee relations, and our commitment to building a workforce that is inclusive and reflective of the communities we serve.

“After an extensive review of a highly talented candidate pool, I am thrilled to welcome Karen to the leadership team,” said Brian. “Her expertise will help us advance our strategic initiatives, including our culture transformation that will empower employees, and drive a continuous improvement mindset that will accelerate our progress toward becoming a premier electric company. She is a resourceful and decisive leader with deep experience building and fostering a culture where employees feel empowered to reach their full potential.”

Karen brings more than three decades of experience and a proven track record developing solutions, delivering results, generating support across multiple levels, leading culture transformation and fostering advocacy for an inclusive work environment. She most recently served as the CHRO at Paychex, a leading provider of integrated human capital management solutions for payroll, benefits, human resources and insurance services. Under Karen’s leadership, they enhanced the employee experience using competitive compensation and benefits structures to recruit and retain top talent and transformed the HR function by leveraging technology for data-driven human resource planning and decision-making.

Prior to Paychex, Karen served as a Vice President of Human Resources for various divisions of Comcast Corp., as well as the Sesame Workshop and Zone Telecom. She also held senior human resources leadership positions with Aramark Corporation and Exelon Corp.

Karen earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Old Dominion University and an MBA from Temple University.