Name William Johnson | Role CEO | |
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Born January 9, 1954 (age 70) ( 1954-01-09 ) Alma mater Duke University
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Known for President and CEO of TVA; Chairman and CEO of Progress Energy Education Duke University, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Similar People Tom Kilgore, Franklin D Roosevelt, George W Norris | ||
William "Bill" Dean Johnson (born January 9, 1954) is the President and CEO of the Tennessee Valley Authority and successor to Tom Kilgore. In his position, he is the highest paid employee in the United States federal government.
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Early life
Bill Johnson was born on January 9, 1954. He attended Pennsylvania State University, where he played football as an offensive lineman, but did not earn a degree. He later graduated from Duke University summa cum laude with a bachelor's degree in history. He also obtained a law degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1982.
Career
After graduating, he served as a law clerk on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. He later worked as a partner in the Raleigh, North Carolina office of Hunton & Williams.
He joined Progress Energy precursor, Carolina Power & Light in 1995. He became President of Progress Energy in 2005, and Chairman and CEO in 2007. He remained the Chairman, President, and CEO of Progress Energy until the company was bought by Duke Energy in 2012.
Per the merger agreement between Progress and Duke, he was slated to become CEO of the new combined company. Within an hour after the merger closed, he was removed as CEO by the new board, the majority of whom were legacy Duke Energy board members. The Los Angeles Times estimates Johnson walked away with $44 million as severance.