LAS VEGAS (June 19, 2024) — Maria Pope, president and CEO of Portland, Ore.-based Portland General Electric, today was elected chair of the board of the Edison Electric Institute (EEI), the national association of investor-owned electric companies. Calvin Butler, president and CEO of Chicago-based Exelon, and David Campbell, chairman and CEO of Kansas City, Mo.-based Evergy were elected vice chairs.
EEI’s Board elected Pope, Butler, and Campbell during the institute’s annual meeting in Las Vegas. EEI’s chair rotates on an annual basis, and Pope succeeds Pedro J. Pizarro, president and CEO of Rosemead, Calif.-based Edison International.
“On behalf of EEI and our member electric companies, I extend our sincerest thanks to Pedro for his outstanding leadership as EEI chair this past year,” said EEI President and CEO Dan Brouillette. “Pedro’s commitment to delivering an affordable and resilient clean energy future to customers is unwavering. He played a critical role in helping to get the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the clean energy tax package in the Inflation Reduction Act over the finish line, and, as chair, he led efforts to ensure that implementation of these impactful new laws unfolds in a way that maximizes customer benefits.”
“We also are pleased to welcome Maria as EEI chair for the 2024-2025 cycle,” added Brouillette. “Maria previously served as an EEI vice chair and has been critical in our industry’s efforts to mitigate wildfire risk and liability. She is a tremendous leader, and we all look forward to her ascension as chair.”
“It is an honor to serve as EEI’s chair during this transformational period. EEI’s member companies continue to lead on clean energy and are focused on affordability and reliability as we meet accelerating customer demand,” said Pope. “The investments being made to enhance the reliability and resilience of the energy grid have never been more important as we work to deliver the future of energy.”
Brouillette also applauded the vice chairs who will support Pope as part of the leadership team.
“Calvin and David are exceptional leaders for our industry, and we are very fortunate for their service and dedication to EEI.”
Maria Pope is president and CEO of Portland General Electric (PGE), a fully integrated energy company that generates, transmits, and distributes electricity to roughly half of Oregon’s population. PGE has the largest voluntary renewable energy program in the country and was ranked No. 1 for utilities in Forrester’s U.S. Customer Experience Index. Pope joined PGE in 2009 as chief financial officer and later was named senior vice president of Power Supply, Operations, and Resource Strategy.
Pope represents the electric power industry on the U.S. Department of Energy’s Secretary of Energy Advisory Board, and she co-chairs EEI’s Wildfire CEO Taskforce and the Electricity Subsector Coordinating Council’s Wildfire Working Group. She served as chair of the Electric Power Research Institute, and is a member of the boards of the Columbia Banking System, Inc., the Oregon Business Council, and the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, Portland Branch.
Pope is an alumna of the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and she earned a bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University.
Calvin Butler is president and CEO of Exelon, the parent company of six local energy companies – Atlantic City Electric, BGE, ComEd, Delmarva Power, PECO, and Pepco. Together, they serve approximately 10.5 million electric and natural gas customers in New Jersey, Maryland, Illinois, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and the District of Columbia.
Prior to being promoted to CEO in December 2022, Butler served as president and chief operating officer (COO) of Exelon. Previously, he served in roles of increasing responsibility at Exelon, including as Exelon’s senior executive vice president and COO, Exelon Utilities CEO, and as CEO of BGE.
Butler was recently named chairman of the board of the Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation. He is also on the board of Battelle, Emerson Electric, Chief Executives for Corporate Purpose, the Economic Club of Chicago, the Greater Washington Partnership, the Caves Valley Golf Club, and the Annika Sorenstam Foundation. He is a member of the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago and serves on the James Madison Council of the Library of Congress. He is immediate past chair of the Greater Baltimore Committee and a past chair of the GridWise Alliance.
Butler earned a bachelor’s degree from Bradley University in Peoria, Ill., and a Juris Doctor degree from Washington University School of Law in St. Louis. He received honorary doctorates of Humane Letters from Delaware State University in 2024 and Morgan State University in 2014.
David Campbell joined Evergy in January 2021 as president and CEO and, in May 2024, became chairman and CEO. Under Campbell’s leadership, Evergy focuses on providing safe, affordable, and reliable service to its 1.7 million electric customers in Kansas and Missouri.
Prior to joining Evergy, Campbell served in executive leadership roles at Vistra Corp, the largest power company in Texas, as well as InfraREIT and TXU Corp. He was a partner at McKinsey & Company before joining TXU in 2004.
Campbell serves on the boards of the Kansas City Area Development Council, the Truman Library Institute, the Electric Power Research Institute, and Nuclear Electric Insurance Limited. Campbell is also a member of the Civic Council of Greater Kansas City and the Leadership Council of the Yale School of the Environment.
Campbell is a graduate of Yale University, Harvard Law School, and Oxford University, where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar.
