Speaker: John Rowe, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Exelon Corporation, a utility holding company headquartered in Chicago.

Rowe is the senior chief executive in the utility industry, having served in such positions since 1984. Rowe has led Exelon since its formation in 2000 through the merger of PECO Energy and the parent of Commonwealth Edison. Rowe previously held chief executive officer positions at the New England Electric System and Central Maine Power Company, served as general counsel of Consolidated Rail Corporation, and was a partner in the law firm of Isham, Lincoln and Beale. Rowe serves as chairman of the Nuclear Energy Institute, is a past chairman of the Edison Electric Institute, and is a co-chairman of the National Commission on Energy Policy, an industry and environmental organization dealing with climate change. He is a member of the boards of directors of Sunoco and the Northern Trust Company. In January 2008, Institutional Investor named Rowe the best electric utilities CEO in America.

Finding a secure, safe and reliable source of energy to power world economic growth will be one of the great challenges of this century. The Harvard University Center for the Environment invites the Harvard community to take up the challenge by participating in this ongoing series of discussions.