CMP promotes VP to president as Purington takes regional role

Joe Purington and Linda Ball side-by-side portrait photos

Photos / Courtesy of Central Maine Power Co. Joe Purington, left, former president and CEO of Central Maine Power Co., is now CEO of Avangrid Networks, while Linda Ball has been promoted to president of CMP.

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By Renee Cordes

Linda Ball has been promoted to president of Central Maine Power Co., succeeding Joe Purington, who has taken on a regional role as CEO of Avangrid Networks.

Both companies are owned by Avangrid Inc. (NYSE: AGR), a subsidiary of Spain’s Iberdrola SA.

Ball, who has served as CMP’s vice president of customer service since 2019, brings more than three decades of experience in the energy industry to the new role and “reaffirms CMP’s commitment to putting its customers at the center of the company’s operations,” the utility said.

Ball began her career as an entry-level customer service representative at CMP’s sister company, New York State Electric and Gas, working in both customer service and operational smart grids. She joined CMP in 2012, playing a key role in the utility’s storm response.

“As we face increasingly severe storms and growing energy demands, continuing to invest in Maine’s energy grid is more critical than ever for resilience, reliability and 21st-century modernization,” she said. “Our momentum making smart, targeted investments that strengthen our energy infrastructure will allow us to continue to deliver safe, dependable power for future generations of Mainers.”

With around 600,000 customers across central and eastern Maine, CMP is Maine’s largest electricity transmission and distribution utility.

Ball has already taken the reins, the Augusta-based company said in Monday's announcement.

Through its networks business that Purington now leads, Avangrid owns and operates eight electric and natural gas utilities, serving more than 3.4 million customers in New York and New England.

Ball's appointment to president "is a testament to her expertise and unwavering commitment to Maine,” Purington said in the release.

“Our state and our company will continue benefiting from her deep experience in the energy industry. Her operational insight and dedication to serving communities will be invaluable to CMP’s ongoing efforts to strengthen our grid’s resilience against extreme weather.”