Nicholas Institute Board of Advisors

James E. Rogers
Jim Rogers is chairman of the board, president and chief executive officer of Duke Energy. He was named chairman in January 2007, following the separation of Duke Energy’s natural gas businesses into a new publicly traded company, Spectra Energy.

Rogers has more than 19 years of experience as a chief executive officer in the electric utility industry. He was named president and chief executive officer of Duke Energy following the merger of Duke Energy and Cinergy in April 2006.

Before the merger, Rogers served as Cinergy’s chairman and chief executive officer for more than 11 years. Prior to the formation of Cinergy, he joined PSI Energy in 1988 as the company’s chairman, president and chief executive officer. He served as executive vice president of interstate pipelines for the Enron Gas Pipeline Group before joining PSI. Before joining the Enron Corp., Rogers was a partner in the Washington, D.C., office of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld.

Before joining that firm, Rogers was deputy general counsel for litigation and enforcement for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). Previously, 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 acted as intervener on behalf of state consumers in gas, electric and telephone rate cases. He was a reporter for the Lexington (Kentucky) Herald-Leader from 1967 to 1970.

In the course of his career, Rogers has served more than 40 cumulative years on the boards of Fortune 500 companies. He is currently a director of Fifth Third Bancorp and Cigna Corporation. He has served as a director of Duke Realty Corporation, Cinergy Corporation, PSI Energy, Bankers Life Holding Corporation, Irkutskenergo AO (a Russian utility) and Indiana National Bank.

He is immediate past chairman and ex officio member of the Executive Committee of the Edison Electric Institute; and is chairman of the Institute for Electric Efficiency. He serves as a member of the board of directors and the Executive Committee of the Nuclear Energy Institute, and is a board member of the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations. Rogers also serves on the boards of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, The Business Roundtable, National Coal Council, American Gas Association, National Petroleum Council, and the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions.

Rogers is chairman of the Edison Foundation and co-chair of the National Action Plan for Energy Efficiency and the Alliance to Save Energy. He serves on the board of directors and the Executive Committee of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. He has testified 16 times on energy and environmental policies before congressional committees.

In 2007, Rogers was named the energy industry’s CEO of the Year by Platts and Business Person of the Year by the Charlotte Business Journal.