Kansas City — Evergy today announced Lesley Elwell will join the Company as Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer. In this role, Elwell will lead Evergy’s Human Resources organization, with an emphasis on talent strategy, employee engagement, organizational development and performance management. She will report to David Campbell, Evergy’s President and Chief Executive Officer.
“Lesley’s proven leadership will be invaluable to Evergy,” said David Campbell, Evergy President and Chief Executive Officer. “She brings deep expertise and experience in leadership development, change management, diversity and inclusion, organizational excellence, HR analytics and employee engagement. She has a demonstrated track record of driving high performance and I’m excited to have her join the Evergy team.”
Elwell joins Evergy with more than 25 years of experience holding human resources and operations leadership roles for large, publicly traded companies in consumer and business-to-business industries, including Walmart, DIRECTV and Sprint. Currently she serves as Chief People Officer at Kansas City-based JE Dunn, one of the largest commercial construction firms in the United States. In that role, she helped transform JE Dunn’s human resource function and developed a workforce strategy to align with key strategic business priorities.
“I can’t imagine a more exciting time to join Evergy,” Lesley Elwell said. “Over the next decade our company will experience a period of ongoing change given the innovative and evolving dynamics of our industry. I am honored to join the Evergy team as the company helps to lead the industry through this strategic transformation.”
Elwell currently serves on the Board of Directors at Starlight Theatre, Kansas City Global Design and Tecta America, a commercial nationwide roofing company. She holds a Master of Engineering Management from the University of Kansas and a Bachelor of Science in industrial engineering from Universidad Nacional Experimental Del Tachira in Venezuela.
Elwell succeeds Jerl Banning, who left the Company in May 2021.
In addition, Evergy announced today that Greg Greenwood, currently Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer, has been named as Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer. Greenwood will continue to lead the Company’s Enterprise Analytics and Continuous Improvement departments and will work directly with David Campbell to provide strategic oversight on the Sustainability Transformation Plan through his anticipated departure and retirement in the middle of 2022. He then plans to transition to an advisory role following his retirement through early 2024.
“In his 30-year career with the company, Greg has delivered results in a broad set of leadership roles and he brings compelling insights and judgment to the key strategic issues that we face,” Campbell explained. “I look forward to working closely with him as our Chief Strategy Officer and subsequently taking advantage of his expertise as an advisor as we advance our Sustainability Transformation Plan.”
Sustainability Transformation Plan
Evergy’s STP was announced in August 2020. The plan honors prior regulatory and merger commitments made in connection with Evergy's formation, while furthering the company's focus on grid modernization, renewable energy investment and cost management. Under the STP, Evergy plans continued cost discipline coupled with increased system investment to enhance the customer experience and improve system resilience and reliability. These capital investments are expected to support 5% to 6% compounded annual rate base growth from 2019 to 2024, targeting EPS compounded annual growth of 6% to 8% over the same period, consistent with top-performing utilities.