[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 3]
[House]
[Pages 3955-3956]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




      A FAREWELL TRIBUTE TO JOHN W. ROWE AS HE RETIRES FROM EXELON

  (Mr. SHIMKUS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. SHIMKUS. Mr. Speaker, Mr. John Rowe, as the chairman and CEO of 
Exelon, is retiring upon closing of the company's merger with 
Constellation Energy.
  John joined Unicom, the parent company of Commonwealth Edison, in 
1998. He was hired to help fix its troubled nuclear fleet and prepare 
the company for deregulation.
  In both 2008 and 2009, Institutional Investor named John the best 
electric utility CEO in America. In the 14 years of John's leadership, 
Exelon has been named by Forbes as one of ``America's Best Companies,'' 
a ``Global 2000 Company,'' the ``Best Managed Utility Company,'' to 
Fortune's list of the World's Most Admired Companies, one of 
Businessweek's Top 50 companies, and Utility of the Year by Electric 
Light and Power.
  Throughout John's career, he has been an active leading voice in 
energy and environmental policy, delivering policy addresses and 
testifying before Congress, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 
and State regulators.
  John and his wife, Jeanne, are committed participants in civic and 
cultural activities. They are committed to a wide range of a variety of 
civic activities, with a focus on education and diversity. The Rowes 
are particularly proud of their substantial commitment to founding the 
Rowe-Clark Math and Science Academy. And he is a board of trustees 
chairman of the Illinois Institute of Technology.
  Mr. Speaker, I have come to know John Rowe during my tenure in 
Congress. I can say that his impact on the energy industry will be long 
felt by both policymakers and Exelon customers. I wish him and his 
family well in their future endeavors.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today to talk about someone that I have come to 
know through my work on the Energy and Commerce Committee over the 
years, John W. Rowe. Mr. John Rowe, the chairman and CEO of Exelon, is 
retiring upon closing of the company's merger with Constellation 
Energy. His retirement marks the end of nearly 14 years at Exelon and 
his 28-year tenure as the longest-serving electric utility CEO. It also 
brings to a close a long career in the utility business in which Rowe 
has distinguished himself as both an industry and civic leader.
  John joined Unicom, the parent company of Commonwealth Edison in 
1998. He was hired to help fix its troubled nuclear fleet and prepare 
the company for deregulation. He shepherded the merger of Unicom and 
PECO Energy and has led the combined company, Exelon, since it 
formation in 2000. The Unicom-PECO merger is widely regarded as the 
most successful merger in the industry's history. The combined company 
serves 5.4 million customers and operates the largest fleet of nuclear 
power plants in the country.
  In both 2008 and 2009, Institutional Investor named Rowe the best 
electric utility CEO in America. He has also received the Edison 
Electric Institute Distinguished Leadership Award, Keystone Center 
Leadership in Industry Award, Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce Burnham 
Award for Business and Civic Leadership, induction into the Chicago 
Business Hall of Fame, University of Arizona Eller College of 
Management Executive of the Year Award and the Union League of 
Philadelphia Founder's Award for Business Leadership.
  In the 14 years of John Rowe's leadership, Exelon has been named by 
Forbes as one of ``America's Best Companies,'' a ``Global 2000 
Company,'' and ``Best Managed Utility Company'' to Fortune's list of 
the ``World's Most Admired Companies,'' one of BusinessWeek's ``Top 
50'' companies, and ``Utility of the Year'' by Electric Light and 
Power.
  Mr. Rowe served as chairman of the Nuclear Energy Institute, the 
Edison Electric Institute (EEI), the Commercial Club of Chicago, and 
the Massachusetts Business Roundtable.
  Rowe and his management team succeeded in turning around the ComEd 
nuclear fleet--increasing the capacity factor from less than 50% in 
1997 to more than 92% in every year since 2000 and average refueling 
outage days were reduced by half. Exelon today is the largest and 
widely regarded as the best nuclear plant fleet in the U.S.
  Responding to massive reliability issues in ComEd's service territory 
in 1998 and 1999, Rowe spearheaded the effort to improve system 
reliability that has helped reduce the frequency and duration of 
customer outages by 20% since 2001. ComEd has spent more than $5 
billion on improving the system since 1998. ComEd now performs in the 
top quartile of its peer companies for reliability.
  Under Rowe's leadership, PECO has been an industry leader in 
reliability performance, moving from the top quartile to top decile in 
infrastructure modernization and the use of equipment to eliminate and 
reduce the length of outages for customers.
  Throughout his career, John has been a leading voice on energy and 
environmental policy delivering policy addresses and testifying before 
Congress, the Federal Energy Regulation Commission, state regulators 
and other. He was a pioneer on industry efforts for utility 
restructuring and a fierce advocate for environmental stewardship and 
diversity.
  Perhaps more than any other CEO, Rowe has made environmental 
stewardship a hallmark of his tenure at each of his companies. While at 
CMP, he refocused its energy procurement strategy to conservation, 
energy efficiency and cogeneration.
  John and his wife Jeanne are committed participants in civic and 
cultural activities. They are committed to a wide variety of civic 
activities with a focus on education and diversity.
  The Rowes have established the Rowe Family Charitable Trust. Over the 
past decade, the Rowes and the family Trust have contributed more than 
$19.7 million to organizations including the University of Wisconsin,

[[Page 3956]]

the Illinois Institute of Technology, the Chicago History Museum, the 
Field Museum, Misericordia, the Chicago Shakespeare Theater, 
Metropolitan Family Services and Northwestern Hospital.
  The Rowes are particularly proud of their substantial commitment to 
founding the Rowe-Clark Math and Science Academy, and is a Noble Street 
operated charter school and the Rowe Elementary School, a Northwestern 
University Settlement Association operated charter school. In addition, 
John Rowe serves as Chairman of New Schools Chicago, an organization 
that promotes and funds Charter Schools in the City of Chicago.
  Rowe also serves as Chairman of the board of trustees of the Illinois 
Institute of Technology and as President of the Wisconsin Alumni 
Research Foundation. He is a Vice Chairman of the Field Museum and has 
previously served as Chairman of the Commercial Club of Chicago and its 
Civic Committee and as Chairman of the board of the Chicago History 
Museum. While CEO of CMP, Rowe served as the Chairman of the Fort 
Western Museum capital campaign. At NEES, Rowe served as President of 
the USS Constitution Museum, Chairman of the Mechanics Hall capital 
campaign, a member of the board of the Massachusetts Natural 
Conservancy and on the board of Trustees at Bryant University.
  Under Rowe's leadership and strong belief that utilities can and must 
have a commitment to their communities, Exelon has become a major part 
of the social fabric of the communities it serves. Exelon companies 
granted over $270 million to non-profit organizations serving our 
communities over the last eleven years including a $70 million donation 
to fund the Exelon Foundation.
  Since the program's inception in late 2005 Exelon employees have 
tracked over 318,000 hours of community service. Exelon employees serve 
on over 350 non-profit boards across the service area, making an impact 
at the community level.
  In recognition of Rowe's dedication to the community he has received 
the Civic Federation of Chicago's Gage Award for Outstanding Civic 
Leadership, the Citizen of the Year award from the City Club of 
Chicago, and the Heart of Mercy Award from Misericordia. Under his 
leadership, Volunteer Match has recognized Exelon as the Corporate 
Volunteer Program of the Year. Exelon has also received the Ron Brown 
Award for Corporate Leadership and was named to Corporate 
Responsibility Magazine's Best Corporate Citizens.
  Mr. Speaker, I have come to know John Rowe over my tenure in Congress 
and I can say that his impact on the energy industry will be long felt 
by both policy makers and Exelon's customers. I wish him and his family 
well in their future endeavors.

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