Age: 60
Education: Bachelor of business administration from Emory University; juris doctorate from the University of Kentucky
Previously: Chairman and CEO, Cinergy; chairman and CEO, PSI Energy
In testimony before the United Nations in late September, James Rogers called for an approach toward energy policy and climate change that he labeled “cathedral thinking,” a reference to the en-during nature of classic religious structures. “The vision of the architects, the stonemasons, the carpenters and the clergy who built them shared one purpose,” he said. “To create a lasting legacy.”
His own vision seems guided by the same purpose. Rogers is famously a paradox, simultaneously the CEO of a massive coal-generating (and heavily polluting) utility firm and also a passionate advocate of greater energy efficiency, cleaner fuel sources and carbon-emission restrictions.
He’s been much in the spotlight recently for his attempts to close the gap between industry and the environmental movement. He was the most recent chairman of the Edison Electric Institute, the most prominent power-company trade group, where he forged a consensus among the organization’s other executives in embracing federal restrictions on carbon emissions. He also helped start the U.S. Climate Action Partner-ship, which seeks to link environmental groups to business executives in lobbying for tougher greenhouse-gas emissions standards.
Of course, his efforts to stem pollution might carry less weight with our survey’s voters than with, say, the green lobby, were his mission not also part of a strategy that made commercial sense for his company. Our respondents are convinced that it does, voting him the best CEO in the utilities sector. “He’s an innovator, getting ahead of global change policies,” says a vice president at another utility firm.
As of late October, Duke’s shares have appreciated about 25 percent in the past two years. Earlier this year, the company increased its quarterly dividend payout from 21 to 22 cents a share, an annualized yield of more than 4.7 percent and a high dividend payout ratio of about 75 percent.
Clearly, Rogers sees the benefit in positioning Duke to cope with carbon regulation sooner rather than later, but his plans entail investing more in efficient coal-burning technology and alternative fuel sources. Controversially, he is also a staunch advocate of nuclear power, an energy source he heralds for its efficiency — a concept that drives everything he does.
Executive Fact:
Rogers is a member of the Hall of Fame at two colleges of the University of Kentucky.
We compiled our list of 100 CEOs by starting with several hundred of the largest American corporations in terms of annual revenues. We then divided the list into the 10 economic sectors used by Standard & Poor’s Global Industry Classification Standard, and determined that each should contain a minimum of five companies.
We culled the list to 100 firms after considering a variety of objective factors (revenues, earnings, market cap, returns, sustained excellence) in addition to other, more subjective reasons, and determined the final list by committee.
We then asked our readers to grade each company’s CEO on a scale that correlated to 1 through 6, whereby 1 = below average; 2 = average; 3 = good; 4 = very good; 5 = exceptional; and 6 = the very best. There was also a category for “do not recognize”; we strongly encouraged respondents to rank only those executives they closely track. Whoever received the highest average score in each sector was the winner.
We sent the survey to a proprietary list of 80,000 hedge-fund managers, professional traders, private-equity professionals and investment bankers, asking them to include their age, company and job title. The results are confidential, though we did ask respondents whether they would mind being contacted later for comments about their selections, some of which are printed here.
Furthermore, those surveyed were asked to name the most outstanding CEO in each sector, and why, and to list five retired CEOs they most admired and five new or up-and-coming CEOs to watch.
For executives who have been CEO for fewer than three months prior to the survey, which took place in late September, we listed both the company’s previous and new CEO.