11 Jan My First Day with Doyle Beneby
Today we announced our 2016 ETS Thought Leader of the Year: Doyle Beneby, CEO of New Power Generation. Doyle rose to the top of our list as we evaluated feedback from thousands of ETS community members, and rated over 250 speakers and industry executives in the fields of technology, business model and policy. I wanted to take some to share more details about Doyle, and what makes him a thought leader in the energy industry transformation going on today.
When I first met Doyle in the greenroom prior to our opening presentation and Q&A at ETS15 last March in Austin, Texas, he was CEO of CPS Energy, one of the country’s largest municipal utilities. Doyle had essentially taken CPS from a hotbed of controversy, and transformed it into a utility admired across the country for its diversified generation fleet, active solar development, and demand response solutions.
Sitting in the greenroom we chatted about our backgrounds—he cut his teeth in Florida and was mentored by the founder of Exelon, John Rowe—and we talked about our heroes. I was struck by his worldliness, humor, and thoughtfulness.
Once on stage, his presentation was illuminating—one of the highest rated of our 187 speakers from 2015—and he absolutely lit up the stage with his knowledge, human touch, and ability to explain complex issues in plain English.
Doyle was also the first person I interviewed as President of Energy Thought Summit. I was nervous, and he was comfortable, smiling and generous. Doyle was an ideal first interviewee to calm my beginner’s nerves. He also set the pace for our wildly successful ETS15.
Today, Doyle embarks on an exciting journey—a road less traveled—as the new CEO of New Generation Power. Here is a man who led some of the most important utilities in the country into the future: Exelon, Florida Power & Light, ComEd, PECO, Consumer’s Energy. These aren’t just utilities; they are pillars of our energy industry, and lighthouses for innovation in each respective community that they serve. Now, Doyle brings his dynamic background and talents to a global ecosystem as New Generation Power scales into a major international clean energy provider.
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Here is a man who led some of the most important utilities in the country into the future: Exelon, Florida Power & Light, ComEd, PECO, Consumer’s Energy.
Doyle bringing his expertise to a global scale is a bold and courageous move. It takes a lot of chutzpah to shift gears from the safe route of what you know, to go down the road less traveled. Doyle is an expert of the highest order on utilities and energy generation. With every continent expanding its energy options in the 21st century, and the 2015 Paris Climate Conference (COP21) and the U.S. Clean Power Plan leading the world’s push across our cities, states and nations, we will need courageous leadership mixed with political agility, a personal touch, and deep industry knowledge. Doyle Beneby is that person.
In 2016 and beyond we expect Doyle’s work will lead to meaningful action across North and South America, Europe, Asia, Africa and the rest of the globe. And for that, we are pleased and honored to award Mr. Doyle Beneby as our 2016 ETS “Thought Leader of the Year.”
Written by Drew Johnston, ETS President.
See Doyle accept his Thought Leader of the Year award at our ETS16 event in Austin, Texas, March 29-31, 2016.