Pepco Holdings Inc. (NYSE: POM) has named Kevin Fitzgerald, an executive partner at the law firm of Troutman Sanders LLP, as its executive vice president and general counsel, with an annual base salary of $550,000 plus bonus and stock, according to an SEC filing. He will succeed incumbent Kirk Emge, who is to retire in April.

Fitzgerald, who will also be elected to the board of the Washington-based utility and its subsidiaries including Delmarva Power & Light Company, will get a target bonus of 60 percent and long-term incentive award of 125 percent of his base salary this year. For the 2012-14 period, he is to be granted restricted stock units worth a total of $1.25 million – $750,000 towards retention incentive and the rest based on performance. The RSUs vest over three years.

The employment agreement, valid for three years till Sept. 16, 2015, includes a severance payment of three times salary and bonus.

Fitzgerald has more than two decades of legal experience in the utility and energy industries. At Atlanta-headquartered Troutman Sanders, with offices in New York, he led the energy group consisting of over 100 attorneys.

Emge, the current general counsel, is to retire on April 1, 2013. He will then be elected as a senior vice president and special counsel to the CEO with the same annual base salary of $400,000. He will also additionally receive a non-pensionable severance payment of $706,667 on April 1.

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