SAN FRANCISCO—PG&E Corp. (NYSE: PCG) April 3 announced the appointment of William “Bill” Johnson as CEO and president and the appointment of 10 new directors to its board of directors. The board appointments will be effective as of the next in-person board meeting, which will be held as soon as practicable. The significant changes in leadership reflect PG&E’s focus on strengthening its safety culture and operational effectiveness and successfully navigating the company’s Chapter 11 process.
PG&E’s leadership changes include selecting a new CEO and undertaking a significant board refreshment process to replace a majority of the board with new independent directors prior to the company’s 2019 Annual Meeting of Shareholders.
The PG&E board stated: “We have heard the calls for change and have taken action today to ensure that PG&E has the right leadership to bring about real and dynamic change that reinforces our commitment to safety, continuous improvement and operational excellence. We believe our new CEO and the newly constituted Board will help PG&E address California’s evolving energy challenges and deliver what our customers expect from their energy company.”
Johnson is concluding a more than six-year tenure as president and CEO of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), with responsibility for leading the nation’s largest publicly owned utility in its mission of providing energy, environmental stewardship and economic development across a seven-state region.
During his time at TVA, the organization achieved the best safety records in its 85-year history and has been a perennial top decile safety performer in the utility industry. In that same period, Johnson led the retirement of more than half of TVA’s coal generation, resulting in a reduction of TVA’s carbon emissions by about 50% over the last decade. He was responsible for leading the generation of more than 50% of TVA’s energy from non-greenhouse gas emitting sources. He also oversaw TVA’s expansion into utility scale solar in recent years, with the addition of approximately 1,000 megawatts (mWs), and pursued the modernization of its hydro assets to increase the overall amount of renewable resources. TVA’s renewable portfolio includes almost 2,400 mWs of wind and solar and 5,800 mWs of hydro capacity.
Prior to his tenure at TVA, Johnson was the chairman, president and CEO of Progress Energy. Throughout his career in the electric utility industry, he has collaborated closely with elected officials and other community leaders to deliver safe and reliable electricity to millions of customers. The board expects Johnson to begin his role in late April.
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