LIPA may tap its VP of operations as new COO

With just weeks to go before its chief executive Kevin Law is scheduled to resign, the Long Island Power Authority said it is considering appointing a new chief operating officer - and an existing LIPA executive is in line for the job.

Michael Hervey, who has served as senior vice president of operations for LIPA and joined the authority in 2002, is considered a "viable candidate" for the post, LIPA said.

Law, who is the chief executive, is departing LIPA at the end of this month to become chairman of the Long Island Association, a business advocacy group.

LIPA hasn't filled the chief operating officer since the departure of Seth Hulkower in 2007.

Hervey joined LIPA in 2002 as director of transmission and distribution. He came to LIPA after 18 years with Commonwealth Edison, the large Chicago utility that he left in 1999 after a management shake-up following extensive city blackouts.

Hervey has become LIPA's point man on system operations, heading its efforts on storm preparedness and outage response, and is a liaison to National Grid, which operates the Long Island grid under a $2.6 billion contract.

LIPA trustee Neal Lewis called Hervey "professional and organized" during their interactions on storm preparedness panels over the past three years. With the recent storms and the likelihood of more this year, Lewis said, "I can see the logic" of naming him chief operating officer until a chief executive is named.

Hervey declined to comment. His position may be a subject of a previously unscheduled board of trustees meeting later this month.

"We're considering appointing a COO, a position now vacant, and Mike Hervey would be considered a viable candidate for that position," said LIPA spokeswoman Vanessa Baird-Streeter.

Shortly after Law announced his intent to leave LIPA in the spring, LIPA chairman Howard Steinberg told trustees in a memo he would move to replace him in time for a state Senate confirmation vote by the end of June. But LIPA has since hired an outside firm to conduct a national chief executive search, which is ongoing.