At the final quarterly meeting of 2014, the STARS Board of Directors unanimously elected Steve Coppock to be the new executive director of the organization beginning January 1, 2015. Coppock had served as the Palo Verde representative to the STARS Management Council. He worked closely with current STARS President Jim Becker for a smooth and efficient transition of STARS day-to-day business operations. Becker completed his term and retired March 1.

"I'm honored that the STARS Board of Directors has placed their confidence in me to lead STARS and am grateful to Jim Becker's leadership which was instrumental in building a solid foundation since STARS Alliance was formed,"said Steve Coppock. "We will continue with our vision of achieving excellence through a strong alliance with a focus on improving plant and regulatory performance, saving money through the joint procurement of goods and services, and working together on projects of common interest."

In his 28-year career with Arizona Public Service Company, Coppock has served in several key engineering leadership roles at Palo Verde, including Systems Engineering, Program Engineering, Maintenance Engineering, Engineering FIN team, and Plant Reliability and Modifications. He served a two-year loaned assignment with Institute of Nuclear Power Operations as a senior evaluator. Coppock earned a Bachelor of Science degree in nuclear engineering from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville and has a senior reactor operator certification for pressurized water reactors.

Additionally, Randy Edington, executive vice president and chief nuclear officer of Arizona Public Service's Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station was elected chairman of the STARS Board of Directors. Ed Halpin, senior vice president and chief nuclear officer at Pacific Gas and Electric's Diablo Canyon Power Plant was elected vice chairman. Edington and Halpin also assumed these roles January 1, 2015.

STARS Alliance was formed in 2012 to support its member stations' efforts to achieve excellence in nuclear power plant operations. The alliance consists of four nuclear power station in four states: Callaway Energy Center (Missori), Diablo Canyon Power Plant (California), Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station (Arizona), and Wolf Creek Nuclear Operating Corporation (Kansas).