Colorado Springs, CO (September 07, 2021) — Christopher M. “Chris” Crane, president and CEO of Chicago-based Exelon Corporation, today was awarded the Edison Electric Institute’s (EEI’s) Distinguished Leadership Award. The award recognizes the commitments, contributions, and individual achievements of investor-owned electric company leaders. Recipients are chosen by their peers.
“Chris is an outstanding leader and a true champion for our industry,” said EEI President Tom Kuhn. “Throughout his career, Chris always has prioritized the needs of the customers and the communities across Exelon’s service territories. His vision for our industry’s clean energy transformation has helped to shape policies that will benefit Exelon’s customers and all Americans for years to come. It truly is an honor to present Chris with this prestigious award.”
As EEI Chairman from June 2019 to June 2020, Crane focused on driving grid resilience and on launching a workforce development initiative to address employment gaps and acute socioeconomic needs within underserved communities by enhancing STEM/vocational education and awareness opportunities, identifying and eliminating barriers to entry, and creating tangible job opportunities.
“Chris is passionate about finding innovative approaches to address the skills gap within our industry as we all work to build our future workforce,” said Nick Akins, chairman, president, and CEO of Columbus-based American Electric Power. “Under Chris’s leadership, EEI launched a workforce development initiative that encourages electric companies to work within their communities to attract, train, and retain the next generation of skilled workers. Today, electric companies continue to take meaningful actions to expand their workforce development programs to align them with their diversity, equity, and inclusion goals.”
Akins received EEI’s Distinguished Leadership Award in 2017.
Prior to his current role, Crane served as Exelon’s chief operating officer, overseeing one of the U.S. electric power industry’s largest portfolios of electric generating capacity, with a multi-regional reach and the nation’s largest fleet of nuclear power plants. He also directed a broad range of business, including major acquisitions, transmission strategy, cost management initiatives, oversight of major capital programs, generation asset optimization, and generation development.
Before joining Exelon, Crane served as site vice president for the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Browns Ferry nuclear plant, and he worked in the new plant start-up at the Comanche Peak Nuclear Power Plant in Texas and at the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station in Arizona.
Crane currently chairs the board of Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry, and he is a member of the board of directors of AEGIS Insurance Services, Get In Chicago, and the Economic Club of Washington, D.C.
Crane studied at New Hampshire Technical College and attended Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program.
