Leadership Team

Mark M. Jacobs

President and Chief Executive Officer

Mark Jacobs is president and chief executive officer of RRI Energy, Inc. From July 2002 through May 2007, he served as the company's chief financial officer.

Prior to joining the company in 2002, Jacobs had a long-standing advisory relationship with the company in his position as managing director with Goldman, Sachs and Co. Jacobs joined Goldman Sachs in 1989 in mergers and acquisitions in New York. He moved to the energy and power group in 1997 and relocated to Houston in 1998.

Jacobs is a member of the board of trustees of the Houston Museum of Natural Science. He also serves as a member of the executive board of KIPP, Inc, a network of free, open-enrollment, college-preparatory public schools in under-resourced communities.

Jacobs earned a bachelor's degree in business administration from Southern Methodist University and a master's degree in management from Northwestern University's J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management.

Rick Dobson

Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer

Rick Dobson is executive vice president, chief financial officer of RRI Energy, Inc. He oversees the operation of the finance, accounting, investor relations, performance management, internal audit and information technology functions of the company. He also is responsible for leading the financial aspects of the strategic plan and creating the infrastructure to support RRI Energy's disciplined approach to capital investment.

Prior to joining the company, Dobson served as chief financial officer of the aluminum products company Novelis, Inc. Earlier in his career, he held the position of chief financial officer at Aquila, Inc., an electric and natural gas utility company based in Kansas City, Mo.

Dobson earned a bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of Wisconsin and a master's degree in business administration at the University of Nebraska. He maintains his license to practice as a CPA in Texas.

David Brast

Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations and Origination

David Brast is senior vice president, commercial operations and origination, for RRI Energy, Inc. In addition to overseeing execution of the wholesale commercial operations and origination strategy, he works closely with plant operations leadership to achieve the financial and operational goals of the wholesale business.

In his former position, he was responsible for economic dispatch, fuel procurement and commercialization of the company's West and Southeast generation assets. In addition, he has directed wholesale origination and optimization of the company's gas transportation and storage assets. In 1999, he led the commercial operations development for the acquired Dutch generator UNA N.V. and established the company's energy trading capabilities across continental Europe and the U.K.

Prior to joining the company in 1997, David held a variety of positions with Enron Capital and Trade Resources, Inc.

He earned a bachelor's degree in finance and accounting from Texas A&M University

Dave Freysinger

Senior Vice President, Generation Operations

Dave Freysinger is senior vice president, generation operations for RRI Energy, Inc. He is responsible for the company's plants and their operations, maintenance, technical, environmental and safety and purchasing activities. He is also responsible for engineering and construction activities associated with new plant developments and major projects.

Freysinger joined the company in April 2001 as director, corporate planning and development, and worked on a series of plant operations improvement projects. He was named vice president, PJM/ECAR markets in 2002 within the wholesale group. In 2002, he was appointed chief operating officer for the company's European operation, responsible for operational, commercial, political, regulatory and financial activities in the Netherlands. He managed these operations through their eventual sale to a third party in late 2003.

Prior to joining the company, Freysinger worked in the upstream segment of the oil and gas industry. He spent 14 years with Amoco Corporation in a variety of financial, strategic and business unit roles. Freysinger also spent two years with a start-up oil and gas services firm.

Freysinger received a bachelor's degree in economics and mathematics from Dickinson College and a master's degree in business administration in finance and accounting from the University of Chicago. He has received various academic and athletic awards.

Rogers Herndon

Executive Vice President, Strategic Planning and Business Development

Rogers Herndon is executive vice president of strategic planning and business development for RRI Energy, Inc. He is responsible for planning RRI Energy's business strategy and developing business initiatives to meet strategic goals.

Since joining the company in May 2006, Herndon has been responsible for refining commercial strategy to align with the company's disciplined approach to capital investment and in realizing the full value of the company's assets throughout the business cycle. He has also served as senior vice president of commercial operations and origination.

Prior to joining the company, Herndon directed the unregulated commercial activities for PSEG Energy Resources and Trade. He had previously been responsible for Bank of America's entry into global electricity markets. Herndon also managed retail supply, natural gas and power trading activities while at Enron and Dynegy.

Herndon received his bachelor's degree in economics from Washington and Lee University and his master's degree in business administration from the Wharton School of Business with a major in finance.

Michael L. Jines

Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary; Chief Compliance Officer

Mike Jines has served as executive vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary and chief compliance officer of RRI Energy, Inc. since June 2009. He served as senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary from May 2003 to June 2009. He was deputy general counsel and senior vice president and general counsel, wholesale group, from March 2002 to May 2003.

Previously, Jines served as deputy general counsel of CenterPoint Energy and senior vice president and general counsel of its wholesale group.

Jines is a former member of the Pro Bono College of the State Bar of Texas and a sustaining life fellow in the Houston Bar Foundation. He serves on the board of trustees of the United Way of the Texas Gulf Coast and has co-chaired the United Way's Law Firm Initiative since 2006.

Jines earned his Doctor of Jurisprudence from the University of Houston College of Law where he served as an editor on the Houston Law Review. He is admitted to practice in the state of Texas.

Thomas C. Livengood

Senior Vice President and Controller

Tom Livengood is senior vice president and controller for RRI Energy, Inc. He is responsible for all RRI Energy accounting and tax functions.

Previously, Livengood served as executive vice president and chief financial officer of Carriage Services, Inc. and as vice president and chief financial officer of Tenneco Energy. He began his career with KPMG and Texas Oil & Gas Corp.

He serves on the board of trustees of the Good Samaritan Foundation and is a committee chair for Financial Executives International.

He is a certified public accountant and received his Bachelor of Business Administration from Southern Methodist University.

Albert Myres

Senior Vice President, Government and Public Affairs

Albert Myres is senior vice president of government and public affairs for RRI Energy, Inc. Previously, Myres served as senior advisor and chief of staff to the president and country chairman of Shell Oil Corporation. Over the course of his 11 years with Shell, he served in several other senior level positions. Prior to joining Shell, he served as director for the Texas office for United States Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison.

Involved with many Houston-area organizations, Myres serves on the boards of directors for the YMCA, Interfaith Ministries and the Texas Nature Conservancy, where he is chairman of the policy committee.

Following the devastation of Hurricane Ike, Houston Mayor Bill White appointed Myres as chairman of the Gulf Coast Ike Relief Fund. Modeled after the successful Katrina/Rita Fund, which Myres also led, the fund is dedicated to helping fill unmet human needs for victims in Harris and Galveston counties and other affected areas. Myres, along with a citizens' advisory board, has been charged with raising and distributing the funds. Myres also created and implemented the Katrina/Rita Education Initiative, a $5 million project to provide immediate intervention to children who may have fallen behind in their reading and math skills.

Myres earned a Bachelor of Science in finance from the University of Tulsa.

Karen D. Taylor

Senior Vice President, Human Resources and Chief Diversity Officer

Karen Taylor is senior vice president, human resources and chief diversity officer for RRI Energy, Inc. She is responsible for all human resource and administrative functions company-wide.

Taylor has served RRI or its predecessor companies since 1985 joining the company with the acquisition of NorAm Energy Corp. in 1997. She has held a variety of senior management positions in planning, finance and human resources. Before she was named senior vice president in 2003, she was vice president of human resources with responsibility for the company's wholesale operations and corporate services. Previously, she served as vice president of administration for the company's wholesale group; vice president of planning and procurement for the trading and transportation group; and vice president of finance for the former Arkla pipeline group, whose operations are now part of CenterPoint Energy. She began her career in 1979 with Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Co, the accounting firm now known as KPMG.

Taylor holds a Master of Professional Accountancy from Louisiana Tech University and is a certified public accountant. She is a member of the Society for Human Resource Management.