Chip Pardee heads TVA generation

photo Charles Pardee
Arkansas-St. John's Live Blog

The Tennessee Valley Authority has hired the chief operating officer of Exelon Generation to its No. 2 job in charge of TVA's power generation.

Charles G. "Chip" Pardee, a 30-year utility veteran, will fill the job vacated when TVA Executive Vice President Kimberly Greene left the federal utility last month to return to the Southern Co. Pardee will be responsible for TVA's nuclear, coal, gas, hydroelectric and renewable energy generation, along with oversight of the agency's river operations, fuel procurement and power trading operations.

"Chip is a great addition to TVA's executive team," said Bill Johnson, TVA's new chief executive officer who wraps up his initial 100-day orientation and review of TVA next week. "He has the industry knowledge and leadership experience we need to manage TVA's diverse energy generation portfolio as we continue increasing the use of nuclear power, natural gas and renewable resources and we decrease our reliance on coal."

During his 30 years at three utilities, the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations and General Electric, Pardee has held leadership positions in nuclear, fossil and renewable generation. Most recently, he served as chief operating officer of Exelon Generation where he led more than 10,000 employees who managed over 35,000 megawatts of capacity across a diverse energy portfolio.

Pardee starts his new job this month and initially will be paid an annual salary of $590,000. Pardee also will be eligible to earn far more in bonuses and incentive pay. Greene, who left TVA after the utility's board hired Johnson instead of her to become CEO last year, was paid nearly $3.6 million in salary and benefits last year, the second highest of any TVA executive.

TVA's previous No. 2 executive before Greene -- former chief operating officer William R. "Bill" McCollum Jr. -- retired from TVA a year ago.

Before his promotion at Exelon, Pardee was president and chief nuclear officer for Exelon Nuclear, where he drove continuous improvements in the operations of the largest American nuclear fleet, which has consistently led the U.S. nuclear industry in cost, capacity factors and refueling outage duration. Pardee has had operational responsibility for a dozen commercial U.S. nuclear stations at various times in his career.

"TVA has a rich history and a significant presence in the utility industry. Operational excellence, leadership development at all levels and continuous improvement are keys to its ongoing success. I look forward to helping TVA advance in these areas," said Pardee, who plans to visit as many employees and power plants as he can in his first 100 days.

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