The following story is from the Raleigh News & Observer
Bill Johnson, the former chief of Progress Energy who was ousted as CEO of Duke Energy in July, will head the Tennessee Valley Authority, one of the nation’s largest energy companies with a footprint in western North Carolina.
It’s a dramatic turnaround for Johnson, 58, who was disgraced this summer by being fired by Duke almost immediately after the merger of Duke and Progress closed. He also was characterized by Duke officials in subsequent public hearings as autocratic and ill-suited to run the combined Duke/Progress, now the nation’s largest electric utility.
Johnson’s selection to head TVA was reported Sunday night by the Chattanooga Times Free Press, citing several unnamed sources. TVA, a federally owned corporation with 9 million customers in parts of seven states, is scheduled announce a new CEO Monday morning at its corporate headquarters in Knoxville.
Johnson’s legacy in North Carolina is that of an energy career spectacularly derailed upon the completion of the $32 billion merger between Charlotte-based Duke and Raleigh-based Progress.
Johnson is a former corporate lawyer who cleared every career hurdle to the CEO suite at Progress since starting his career in the company’s legal department in 1992, when the utility was called Carolina Power & Light.
Johnson had been CEO at Progress for five years and preparing for his next promotion – taking the helm at Duke. But in the months leading up to the merger’s closing date, Duke’s board members decided to reinstate Jim Rogers as chief executive, stunning Johnson by firing him just hours after the merger was completed.
In public testimony before the N.C. Utilities Commission, Johnson said Duke blamed him for pursuing a merger that was becoming increasingly costly for Duke.
Johnson left Duke with a golden parachute worth up to $44.7 million.
He is a one-time Penn State football lineman whose life off-the-clock favors listening to the Grateful Dead, reggae, gardening, reading, meditating, cooking and baking bread. When encountering Progress employees and others in hallways or on the streets of downtown Raleigh, Johnson often started off the conversation by asking what books the other person was reading.
He was regarded by employees as the antithesis of the starchy utility CEO, a laid-back, easy-going regular guy who drove a Toyota and lived in the same suburban home without falling prey to the temptation to upgrade to a gilded executive lifestyle.
But his professional ascent was not without some concessions. Not long after arriving at the Raleigh utility, the 6-foot, 4-inch tall Johnson was taken aside by his superiors and advised that his corporate career would advance faster if he shaved his beard. Johnson dutifully, if begrudgingly, took to the razor.
Johnson’s firing has triggered dual investigations by the N.C. Utilities Commission and the N.C. Attorney General to determine if Duke deliberately misled shareholders and regulators about its CEO succession planning. Both probes are ongoing.
Business to government
Johnson’s switch to TVA will recast the executive from the leader of a Fortune 500 corporation to running a sprawling government enterprise, but one that is nonetheless focused on generating electricity. TVA, created be the federal government during the Great Depression, also provides flood control and land management for the Tennessee River system and collaborates with other utilities and state and local governments on economic development.
TVA, the nation’s biggest government utility, conducted its CEO search through the McAuley Firm, a Charlotte-based executive search firm.
TVA’s outgoing CEO, Tom Kilgore, is a former CEO of Progress Ventures, a onetime subsidiary of Progress Energy, where he oversaw a portfolio of energy-related businesses in coal mining, barge transportation, independent power generation, energy trading and natural gas exploration. Kilgore joined TVA in 2005, was named TVA’s chief executive in 2006 and announced his retirement in August.
I love it you never keep a good man down.
Ed Schillo
Pilot
Duke Energy
Edward.Schillo@duke-energy.com
919-741-0961
Well done, there is some justice still in this country. Mr Kilgore and his staff made a wonderful choice. The TVA is lucky to have you. Good Luck.
Very exciting news….Bill Johnson was a great choice by TVA. My only hope is that he will maintain a presence in North Carolina and Raleigh. He is as all of the posts to this blog testify a class act.
A big win for TVA! Happy for Bill and TVA!
Sent from my iPad
Great news! I am envious of TVA for having such a great leader.
Great news. They are lucky
John
Best wishes in your new endeavor. We are all so happy that you are being recognized for your outstanding leadership. TVA has chosen wisely.
There is no doubt that TVA’s board made an excellent choice!. Bill will bring his plain-spoken leadership style to inspire these employees to greater heights. It is gratifying for us who admire him to see this turn of events.
Congrats Bill! Your leadership will be a great asset to TVA!
Congrats Bill! I know your leadership will be a great asset to TVA!
Congrats Bill. Dooks loss, TVA’s gain for sure. I have to say that I am envious of, but happy for the folks at TVA who get to work with such a fine man. I have no doubt that any communication from you to the good people at TVA will always start with a safety note. You have no idea how much we miss that. Safety should always come first, and we will ALWAYS be with you on that.
Great news! Hopefully we will soon hear good news about Mark Mulhern, Paula Sims and John McArthur as well, and may perhaps follow Bill to TVA.
OUTSTANDING!!! Bill Johnson is a GOOD MAN who also has both his head and heart in the right place! He is a man that values his people, and truly believes in fairness. This is a true blessing for TVA and everyone they serve! CONGRATULATIONS BILL!