Entergy Chief Nuclear Officer Kimberly Cook-Nelson To Succeed Retiring Pete Norgeot As COO

(RTTNews) - Electric utility Entergy Corp. (ETR) said Thursday its board of directors announced the retirement of Pete Norgeot, executive vice president and chief operating officer, effective May 1.

The company said Kimberly Cook-Nelson, executive vice president and chief nuclear officer, will replace Norgeot, as chief operating officer. Meanwhile, John Dinelli, senior vice president and chief operating officer for Entergy's nuclear operations, will be promoted to executive vice president and chief nuclear officer.

In this role, Dinelli will serve as a member of the office of the chief executive reporting directly to Chair and CEO Drew Marsh.

Since 2022, Cook-Nelson has had responsibility for the safe, secure and reliable operations of Entergy's four nuclear power plants and five reactors located in Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi.

She began her career at Entergy in 1996 as a design engineer at the Waterford 3 Steam Electric Station. She moved into plant leadership in 2001 and has held numerous leadership positions of increasing responsibility over her career.

She has also served as vice president of Entergy's system planning and operations organization, providing commercial support for Entergy's long-term resource planning.

Dinelli, who succeeds Cook-Nelson, has had a long career at Entergy, starting in 1991 at the Indian Point Energy Center, where he joined the company as an engineering intern. This was followed by an operations shift technical advisor role with the New York Power Authority.

Dinelli then completed a loaned assignment with the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations as an organizational effectiveness lead evaluator. After completing his tenure at INPO, he worked as the site vice president for Waterford 3 and was named site vice president for ANO in 2019.

Since 2021, Dinelli has served as chief operating officer for Entergy's nuclear business. Prior to his current role, he served as vice president, nuclear independent oversight for the fleet. The company said all these organizational changes are effective May 1, 2025.