Duke Energy names CFO to replace Rogers as chief exec

Duke Energy Corp. on Tuesday named Chief Financial Officer Lynn Good to be its next CEO, replacing former Indiana utility executive Jim Rogers, who had agreed to retire as head of the largest U.S. utility owner by the end of the year under an agreement with North Carolina regulators.

“Our unanimous support of Lynn as our next president and CEO clearly demonstrates that the board is united in its vision for the company and its confidence that Lynn is the best leader to move Duke Energy forward,” board member Jim Hyler said in a prepared statement. Rogers has been chairman and CEO of Duke for seven years.

Rogers, 65, agreed in November to step down under a settlement with state regulators investigating a leadership change hours after Charlotte, N.C.-based Duke’s $17.8 billion purchase last year of Progress Energy. After losing his role as CEO, Rogers was reinstated as head of the merged companies after a split board voted to remove Progress’s Bill Johnson.

Good, 54, will take over on July 1. She has been CFO since July 2009 and joined a predecessor company in 2003 after working at Deloitte & Touche LLP and Arthur Andersen LLP.

Rogers will continue as chairman until the end of the year. The board plans to decide on a chairman-elect from among its independent directors in “the coming weeks,” and that person will take over as chairman on Jan. 1, the company said.

Rogers, 64, has a history of coming out on top in mergers. He was CEO of Plainfield-based PSI Resources Inc. when it was acquired in 1994 and went on to become CEO of the merged company, Cincinnati-based Cinergy Corp.

He took over as CEO of Duke in 2006, after the company bought Cinergy, where he’d served for 11 years as chairman and CEO. Duke supplies power to about 7.2 million U.S. customers and owns utilities in six U.S. states. It also has power plants in seven Latin American countries.

The company decided in February to permanently shut down the Crystal River nuclear power plant in Florida after deciding the risks and costs of fixing the reactor outweighed the benefits. Earlier this month, it began operations at the Edwardsport power plant in Indiana, a $3.2 billion coal-gasification project that was delayed and over-budget.

The announcement was made before the start of trading on U.S. markets. Duke shares rose 1 cent, to $67.65 each, Monday. The shares have gained 6 percent this year.