believed there were definite benefits for both in diversification. Florida
 Power and Light Company, the utility, was going to need to go into a
 substantial building program in the mid-nineties. They said we needed to
 have a long-term diversification program that would bring a cash flow into
 the corporate family in the mid-1990s. This would take pressure off of the
 corporate stock in the New York financial market, which would benefit not
 only our stockholders, but our customers as well, who would have to pay for
 the higher cost of equity in the cost of capital being used in the service
 delivered to them. So on that basis, we engaged them to help us to select
 specific areas in which we would look for diversification.

P: That happened, then, in 1986, when the holding company came into
 operation?

M: I think it came into operation in 1984.

P: I noticed in looking over your resume that you served as the president and
 CEO of Florida Power and Light until 1979. You then became chairman of
 the board and CEO in 1979 to 1983. What did that mean? What were the
 differences between your being president and chairman of the board? Was
 this just an additional responsibility?

M: Initially I was the chairman of the board and CEO. Then when I turned
 sixty-five I relinquished the job of president and CEO, and I remained the
 chairman. It is the CEO that counts; that is where the buck stops within the
 company. There is a considerable amount of work that needs to be done
 between the board of a large and active company such as this, and the
 management of the company. I have always stressed interaction with the
 board--both keeping the board informed of everything happening within the
 company, as well as trying to educate them about the operation and the
 foreseeable concerns of the company. They can then translate the company
 to the people within the state. We have tried to select people on the board
 from within various geographical areas. As prominent business people in
 those areas, they could be looked to by others in the area to answer questions
 about the company, and also to be the recipient of any unfavorable
 information about the company. A question from a director gets answered
 very rapidly, and we wanted a means to respond rapidly to any unfavorable
 questions that might come up.

P: Who succeeded you as CEO?

M: John Hudiburg.

P: Had he been with the company for awhile?

M: He had been with the company for all of his business career.


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