​BALTIMORE (Oct. 10, 2019) – BGE Vice President of Governmental and External Affairs Valencia McClure has announced her plans to retire from BGE and Exelon at the end of this year in order to relocate to her hometown of Dallas, Texas. Valencia has been with BGE since 2013 and with its parent company, Exelon, since 2007.  Over her tenure with BGE, she has led communications, marketing, state and local legislative affairs, large customer services and corporate relations. Valencia's many successful initiatives at BGE have included leading the celebration of the company's 200^th Anniversary, strengthening ties to external stakeholders and administering BGE's philanthropic strategy, which has contributed approximately $30 million to thousands of central Maryland nonprofits through signature grant programs and annual employee cause initiatives since 2014.

"We are grateful for Valencia's leadership and expertise and her commitment to BGE's customers and the communities we serve in central Maryland," said BGE CEO Calvin G. Butler, Jr.  "Setting aside all of Valencia's many leadership and professional accomplishments, it is her optimism, positivity and good nature that we will miss the most. While we bid her farewell as a colleague, we continue to count her as a friend and wish her well."

Prior to BGE, McClure joined Exelon Power in July 2007 where she served as director of Communications for the national power generation fleet.  Before Exelon, McClure had a successful career in media and community affairs in Texas at organizations including, Diageo, The Dallas Morning News, TCI Cablevision, WFAA TV the Dallas ABC television affiliate, and her own communications agency, McClure Communications. McClure is widely recognized as a leader in the energy industry and in the community. She is the past president of the American Association of Blacks in Energy (AABE) Baltimore Chapter and is on the boards of the University of Maryland School of Medicine, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Susan G. Komen Maryland, Bowie State University, and Morgan State University's School of Global Journalism and Communications.

BGE also announced that Charles Washington will join BGE as director of Governmental and Legislative Affairs.  Charles comes to BGE after a career in government relations, most recently serving as director of Government Affairs and Industry Relations for Total Wine & More, the nation's largest independent alcohol retailer.  He previously served as Director, Government Affairs & Public Policy for Exelon, representing Pepco and Delmarva Power in Maryland. Charles began his career in public affairs for Duke Energy. He is active in the community, serving on the board of the Maryland Soccer Foundation and he led Pepco's United Way campaigns from 2006 to 2016. 

Allyson Black, currently a member of the BGE State Affairs team in Annapolis, has been promoted to manager of State Affairs and Economic Development, where she will continue to help lead governmental outreach efforts for Maryland and will also have responsibility for BGE's Economic Development initiatives. Allyson serves on the boards of the Everyman Theatre, Central Maryland Chamber, Maryland Humanities and Reading Partners, Baltimore.  Allyson Black and BGE Manager of External Affairs Ammanuel Moore will report to Charles Washington.

As announced last month, BGE Governmental and External Affairs will be led by Senior Vice President of Governmental and External Affairs Rodney Oddoye beginning in 2020.  The role of vice president of governmental and external affairs reporting to Oddoye will be backfilled.  

"We look forward to continuing to build on the good work of Valencia and the entire BGE team in strengthening our relationships with key stakeholders," said Rodney Oddoye. "Charles, Allyson and the rest of the Governmental and External Affairs team are committed to working with our external partners to power a cleaner and brighter future for our customers and communities." 

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BGE, founded in 1816 as the nation's first gas utility and headquartered in Baltimore, is Maryland's largest natural gas and electric utility. The company's approximately 3,200 employees are committed to safe and reliable energy delivery to more than 1.25 million electric customers and more than 650,000 natural gas customers in central Maryland.  In the J.D. Power 2017 and 2018 Electric Utility Business Customer Satisfaction Study ^SM  BGE was ranked Highest in Customer Satisfaction with Business Electric Service in the East among Large Utilities. In addition, in the J.D. Power 2018 Gas Utility Business Customer Satisfaction Study ^SM   BGE received Best in Customer Satisfaction with Business Natural Gas Service in the East. BGE is a subsidiary of Exelon Corporation (Nasdaq: EXC), the nation's leading competitive energy provider. Connect with BGE on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Flickr, and engage with the latest BGE stories on bgenow.com. 

Baltimore Gas and Electric Company (or "BGE") received the highest score in the East Large segment of the 2018 Electric Utility Business Customer Satisfaction Study and the East Region of the 2018 Gas Utility Business Customer Satisfaction Study of electric and gas utility customer satisfaction among business customers. Visit jdpower.com/awards.