Douglas Neve Elected to the ALLETE Board of Directors

Douglas C. Neve, former Chief Financial Officer of Minneapolis-based Ceridian Corporation, has joined the ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) Board of Directors.

Neve, 51, of Eden Prairie, Minn. was elected by ALLETE’s Board of Directors on July 18. As a former public company CFO and audit partner with two international accounting firms, Neve has an extensive background in finance and accounting.

From February 2005 until March 2007, Neve was Executive Vice President and CFO of Ceridian, a multinational human resources company serving more than 110,000 customers and their 25 million employees worldwide. At Ceridian, Neve was responsible for all areas of finance for this New York Stock Exchange-listed company, which had revenue of more than $1.5 billion in 2006 and has a current market capitalization in excess of $5 billion.

Prior to joining Ceridian, Neve was a partner at Deloitte & Touche, where he led the Minneapolis enterprise risk services practice and served several public companies, assisting many in applying the rules mandated by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Before moving to Deloitte & Touche, Neve was an audit partner at Arthur Andersen in Chicago and Minneapolis, serving as a regional audit leader.

He is on the Audit Committee of Luther College and is a board member for Tyndale House Publishers. Neve has served on the boards of the Special Olympics of Minnesota and International Students, Inc., and is a former director and audit committee chairman of Golf Galaxy.

“We are pleased to welcome Doug to the ALLETE board,” said ALLETE Chairman, President and CEO Don Shippar. “His wide-ranging experience in accounting and finance within large organizations will be an asset to our company.”

Neve holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Accounting and Economics from Luther College and is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

ALLETE’s corporate headquarters are located in Duluth, Minnesota. ALLETE provides energy services in the upper Midwest and has significant real estate holdings in Florida. More information about the company is available on ALLETE’s Web site at www.allete.com.

The statements contained in this release and statements that ALLETE may make orally in connection with this release that are not historical facts, are forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties and investors are directed to the risks discussed in documents filed by ALLETE with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Contacts:

ALLETE
Eric Olson, 218-723-3947
[email protected]
or
Investor Contact:
Tim Thorp, 218-723-3953
[email protected]