RICHMOND, Va., May 9, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Dominion Energy (NYSE: D) today announced the planned retirement of David A. Christian. He will step down from his responsibilities as executive vice president and chief innovation officer effective July 1, 2018.

Dominion Energy also announced that on July 1, Mark O. Webb, senior vice president-Corporate Affairs and Chief Legal Officer, will become senior vice president-Corporate Affairs and Chief Innovation Officer, reporting to Thomas F. Farrell, II, chairman, president and chief executive officer. Carlos M. Brown, will continue to serve as vice president and general counsel, and lead the company's Law Department and legal function, reporting directly to Farrell.

Effective July 1, the company will promote Emil Avram, director-Engineering Services in the Gas Infrastructure Group, to vice president-Innovation. He will report to Webb.

Farrell said: "For more than four decades, David Christian has provided a steady hand, dedicated leadership and wise counsel to his colleagues and company. On a day-to-day level, we at Dominion Energy will miss his intelligence and instincts. But we look forward to continuing our long-standing relationship with David as he enters a new phase in his incomparable career."

Upon graduation from Virginia Tech, where he received a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering, Christian joined the company in 1976 as an engineer at Surry Power Station. Over the next 22 years – save for a two-year stint in which he worked at Chesapeake Energy Center in Virginia – he would hold 10 different job titles at Surry, rising through the ranks to become the nuclear plant's site vice president in March 1998.

Over the past 20 years – all as an officer at Dominion Energy – Christian has served as chief nuclear officer and chief executive officer at all three of the company's principal operating units, among other responsibilities. He assumed his current role on Jan. 1, 2017.

Christian is heavily involved in the industry and in his community. He is chairman of the National Nuclear Accrediting Board and serves on the management committee of the Institute for Electric Innovation at the Edison Electric Institute. He sits on the boards of the Foundation for Nuclear Studies and the Dominion Energy Charitable Foundation and on the executive board of the Boy Scouts of America, and is a board member emeritus of CultureWorks. Christian has served on the advisory board for the College of Engineering at his alma mater and currently serves on the advisory board for Virginia Commonwealth University's nuclear engineering department. He is the immediate past chair of the board of directors of the Virginia War Memorial.

Webb joined Dominion Energy in 1997 as assistant general counsel and served in several positions with the Law and Alternative Energy Solutions groups. He was named vice president and general counsel in January 2013 and assumed the responsibilities of chief risk officer in January 2014. He was named senior vice president, general counsel and Chief Risk Officer in May 2016 and assumed his current duties – in which he oversees the company's federal, state and local government relations; corporate communications, advertising, public relations, creative services, philanthropy and community affairs; and the Law Department – in January 2017.

A veteran of the U.S. Air Force, Webb received a bachelor's degree from Texas Christian University and a J.D. degree from the University of Virginia School of Law.

Brown came to the company in 2007 after years of private law practice. He has served in various capacities at Dominion Energy, including in the Law Department, Alternative Energy Solutions group and Power Generation unit – including senior counsel, director-Alternative Energy Solutions Business Development & Commercialization and director-Power Generation Station II at Power Generation. Immediately prior to being named vice president and general counsel in January 2017, Brown served as deputy general counsel-Litigation, Labor and Employment.

He holds bachelor's and J.D. degrees from the University of Virginia.

Avram joined Dominion Energy in 2001 as a project manager in the company's Power Generation business unit. He became manager-Power Generation Engineering in 2005 and senior business development manager in the generation unit in 2006. Avram was promoted to director-Business Development in 2008 and assumed his current role – in which he is responsible for the engineering, construction and land work in the Gas Infrastructure Group, leading the execution of large natural gas pipeline and compressor station projects – in 2017.

Avram earned a bachelor's in aeronautical engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a master's in mechanical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and an MBA from the University of Connecticut.

"Innovation and the creation of an innovative culture are critical for Dominion Energy," Farrell said. "Innovation will allow our company to transform ideas into value, and it will serve as a sustaining force against rapid, external change in the electric power and natural gas sectors. For years, David Christian has been a forceful advocate and leading voice for innovation in our industry. Mark Webb and Emil Avram will assume that mantle, and Dominion Energy cannot ask for better successors for what David has started."

Nearly 6 million customers in 19 states energize their homes and businesses with electricity or natural gas from Dominion Energy (NYSE: D). The company ranks among America's most-admired energy companies, thanks to its commitment to sustainability and reliable, affordable, safe energy. Dominion Energy is one of the nation's largest producers and transporters of energy with over $75 billion of assets providing electric generation, transmission and distribution, as well as natural gas storage, transmission, distribution, and import/export services. As one of the nation's leading solar operators, the company intends to reduce its carbon intensity 50 percent by 2030. Headquartered in Richmond, Va., Dominion Energy contributes more than $20 million annually to the communities it serves and actively supports military families and veterans. Please visit www.DominionEnergy.com, Facebook or Twitter to learn more.

SOURCE Dominion Energy