Jim Rogers was Duke Energy’s president and CEO beginning in 2006; he was elected chairman in 2007, and served until his retirement in 2013. Rogers spent 25 years in chairman and CEO positions, working with Public Service Indiana and Cinergy in addition to Duke; he has been a leading force for innovation in utility business models and the transition to a more climate-friendly energy economy. In 2009, Newsweek named him one of the 50 most powerful people in the world, citing his capacity to dramatically increase the production of electricity from renewable energy. Rogers was awarded the Edison Electric Institute’s Distinguished Leadership Award in recognition of his decades of service and exemplary contributions to the electric utility industry; the Alliance to Save Energy also honored him with its Lifetime Achievement Award.

Rogers has served as deputy general counsel for litigation and enforcement for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC); executive vice president of interstate pipelines for the Enron Gas Pipeline Group; and partner in the Washington, DC, law office of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld. Prior to those appointments, Rogers served as assistant to the chief trial counsel at FERC; as a law clerk for the Supreme Court of Kentucky; and as assistant attorney general for the Commonwealth of Kentucky, where he advocated for the state’s consumers in gas, electric, and telephone rate cases.