Duke Energy said its president, Harry Sideris, will succeed Lynn Good as CEO, effective April 1. Good will also retire as board chair. Lead independent director Ted Craver will become board chair.
The change had been widely anticipated with Good reaching age 65 and having run one of the largest U.S. utilities since 2013, an unusually long CEO tenure.
Sideris has worked at Duke for nearly three decades. He became president last April. Good joined predecessor company Cinergy in Cincinnati in a key finance role after working as a key outsider auditor for the utility, which Duke Energy bought in 2006.
“In an era of growth and rapidly evolving customer demands, Harry’s experience in operations, customer service, strategy, and stakeholder and regulatory engagement makes him the ideal choice for CEO,” Craver said in a release.
Good said Duke Energy “is in a strong and enviable position and, under Harry’s leadership, will surely seize upon the opportunities ahead to deliver for our customers, communities, investors, and other stakeholders.”
Sideris started his career at Progress Energy before its merger with Duke Energy in 2012. Before becoming president, Sideris’ leadership roles included executive vice president of customer experience, solutions and services, president of Duke Energy Florida, vice president of environmental, health and safety and vice president of power generation for fossil/hydro operations in the western regions of North Carolina and South Carolina.
Craver has been a member of the Duke board since 2017. He is the retired CEO of Edison International, a Rosemead, California-based electric utility that owns Southern California Edison.
The first woman to lead Duke, Good is also known as among the most influential U.S. female CEOs. Only about 10% of the Fortune 500 companies are led by women.
Good helped convince N.C. lawmakers to approve multiyear rate hikes rather than make annual filings, which should pay big financial dividends to the utility. In 2021, she also pushed back against efforts by activist investor Elliott Investment Management, which was critical of Duke’s performance during her tenure. And she managed the 2014 Dan River coal-ash crisis that is costing billions of dollars in cleanup charges.
Meanwhile, Good helped recast the electric utility’s board, which historically was dominated by executives in the Carolinas. She and former Piedmont Natural Gas CEO Tom Skains are the only board members from North Carolina and South Carolina on Duke’s 14-member board.
Her successor, Harry Sideris, started with Progress Energy and has steadily risen in influence over the years. While Sideris was president at Duke Energy Florida, the company reached a regulatory agreement that officials say is paying off in strong solar energy and grid modernization gains. He’s also credited with helping improve Duke Energy’s storm response efforts, which has become increasingly important given the rising number of natural disasters.
Beyond her Duke Energy work, Good has been a major corporate leader in Charlotte through the Charlotte Executive Leadership Council, made up of the city’s key CEOs. She is also a director of Boeing. Her annual compensation at Duke has averaged $19 million over the past three years.
Over the past 10 years, Duke Energy’s total return, including dividends, is about 88%. That compares with a 121% gain in the XLU Electric Utilities Sector ETF during that period.
Duke’s electric utilities serve 8.4 million customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky, and owns 54,800 megawatts of energy capacity. Its natural gas utilities serve 1.7 million customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Ohio and Kentucky.
Previous Duke Energy CEOs since 1976
1976-82 Carl Horn Jr.
1982-94 William S. Lee III
1994-97 W.H. Grigg
1997-2003 Richard Priory
2003-07 Paul Anderson
2006-14 James Rogers Jr.
2013-25 Lynn Good