Robert P. Powers Named to ALLETE Board of Directors

DULUTH, Minn.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Robert P. Powers, recently retired vice chairman of American Electric
Power (AEP), has joined ALLETE Inc.’s (NYSE: ALE) board of directors. He
was elected by the board August 23, 2017.

Powers’ career in the energy industry spans 41 years through his
retirement in August 2017. He most recently served as a senior adviser
to AEP’s chairman and as chief operating officer, overseeing operations
in areas including AEP’s utility subsidiaries, regulated generation,
competitive businesses, and physical and cyber security.

He also interacted frequently with AEP’s board of directors on business
strategy, technology shifts, investment decisions, regulatory
expectations and executive development. He joined AEP in 1998 as senior
vice president and chief nuclear officer, and steadily took on roles of
greater responsibility. AEP is one of the nation’s largest electric
utilities, serving nearly 5.4 million customers in 11 states.

“We are excited to welcome Bob to the board,” said ALLETE chairman,
president and CEO Al Hodnik. “His values align well with ALLETE’s, as
seen in AEP’s steady gains in environmental performance, safety and
reliability, all accomplished alongside a corresponding increase in
shareholder value. His personal integrity, diverse utility experience
and strategic leadership — operationally, in the boardroom, and before
regulators and Wall Street — will be valuable assets as ALLETE pursues
its growth strategy while answering the nation’s call to transform its
energy and water landscape.”

Lead Director, Heidi Jimmerson stated, “The ALLETE board of directors is
undergoing long-term succession planning, and Bob’s election is the
first step in that process. The entire board is excited to have Bob join
us. We very much value not only his depth and breadth of experience in
the utility industry but also his values and integrity.”

In addition to his positions at AEP, Powers also spent 16 years with
Pacific Gas and Electric Co., rising to site vice president and plant
manager at the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Generating Station, and six years
with the Tennessee Valley Authority as a health physicist.

Powers earned a bachelor’s degree in biology at Tufts University and a
Master of Science degree in radiological hygiene from the environmental
sciences and engineering department of the University of North Carolina
– Chapel Hill. He has a national certification by the American Board of
Health Physics, and earned senior reactor operator certification in
1991. In addition, he completed executive management programs run by the
University of California – Berkeley and Duke University.

He is active in the Edison Electric Institute (EEI), and is the former
chairman of the board for the Center for Energy Workforce Development
(CEWD), an EEI organization focused on recruiting technical talent to
utilities. Powers and his wife, Jan, live in Colorado and have three
grown children.

Powers joins a best-practice governance board at ALLETE, including Hodnik,
Lead Director Heidi E. Jimmerson (former executive vice
president, secretary and general counsel at Florida East Coast Railway
LLC) and directors Kathryn W. Dindo (retired vice president and
chief risk officer for FirstEnergy Corp.), Sidney W. Emery Jr. (chief
executive officer and owner of Supply Chain Services LLC), George G.
Goldfarb (president and chief executive officer of Maurices Inc. and
president and chief executive officer of the Value Fashion Segment of
Ascena Retail Group Inc.), James S. Haines Jr. (former chief
executive officer and director of Westar Energy Inc.), James J.
Hoolihan (chief executive officer and chair of the board of
Industrial Lubricant Co.), Madeleine W. Ludlow (founder and chair
of the board of West Capital Advisors LLC), Douglas C. Neve
(former executive vice president and chief financial officer of Ceridian
Corp.) and Leonard C. Rodman (retired chairman, president and
chief executive officer of Black & Veatch).

ALLETE Inc. (NYSE: ALE) is an energy company headquartered in Duluth,
Minnesota. In addition to its electric utilities, Minnesota Power and
Superior Water, Light and Power of Wisconsin, ALLETE owns ALLETE Clean
Energy, based in Duluth; BNI Energy in Bismarck, North Dakota; and U.S.
Water Services in St. Michael, Minnesota; and has an eight percent
equity interest in the American Transmission Co. More information about
ALLETE is available at www.allete.com.
ALE-Corp

The statements contained in this release and statements that ALLETE
may make orally in connection with this release that are not historical
facts, are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements
involve risks and uncertainties and investors are directed to the risks
discussed in documents filed by ALLETE with the Securities and Exchange
Commission.

Contacts

ALLETE Inc.
Investor Contact:
Vince Meyer,
218-355-3276
[email protected]