PG&E; Names Clarke to Be Next Chairman

Richard A. Clarke, 55, was named Wednesday to succeed Frederick W. Mielke Jr. as chairman and chief executive of Pacific Gas & Electric Co. when Mielke resigns next April 30 after turning 65.

Clarke was also named interim president of the San Francisco-based utility until he assumes the chairman and chief executive posts May 1. As president, he replaces Barton W. Shackelford, 65, who is resigning.

Meanwhile, Clarke will become president and a director Nov. 1 and will remain president through next April. Clarke, currently executive vice president for utility operations, is a lawyer who rose through the corporate ranks at PG&E.; In an interview Wednesday, he said his immediate concern was to “get back our investment in the Diablo Canyon power plant” during upcoming rate hearings on the embattled $1.5-billion nuclear plant. Beyond that, Clarke said he would strive to make the San Francisco utility “more market and customer driven” to compete better with a rising tide of non-utility power producers.

George A. Maneatis, 58, an engineer who is currently executive vice president for facilities and resources development, will take over as president as of May 1. At that time, Stanley T. Skinner, 48, currently executive vice president and chief financial officer, will become vice chairman, filling a post that has been vacant for a decade.

Mielke characterized the new management as a “strong triumvirate,” citing the executives’ experience in finance, management and technology. Commenting on the vice chairman position, he said: “Sometimes it’s appropriate to fill and sometimes not. It’s a matter of the personnel you have at the time.”