James Rogers elected EE chairman

James Rogers, president and chief executive officer of Duke Energy, has been elected chairman of the Edison Electric Institute (EEI), the national trade association of shareholder-owned electric companies, international affiliates and industry associates worldwide.

Rogers has been a CEO for nearly 18 years - first at PSI Energy, then at Cinergy, and now at Duke Energy, which completed its merger with Cinergy earlier this year. Before joining PSI, he was in the interstate pipeline business and a partner in the Washington, D.C., office of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld.

Prior to that, Rogers was deputy general counsel for litigation and enforcement at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. 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.

Rogers will be supported by Jeff Sterba, chairman, president and CEO of Albuquerque-based PNM Resources, who was elected first vice-chairman of EEI, and David Ratcliffe, chairman, president and CEO of Atlanta-based Southern Company, who was elected second vice-chairman.