Calvin Butler Jr. assumes leadership of Exelon

Utility operator Exelon said Tuesday that Calvin Butler Jr. has begun serving as the company’s president and CEO, making him among the leading figures in Chicago business.

Butler, 53, is the first African American in that job and currently the seventh Black CEO of a Fortune 500 company, Exelon representatives said. He succeeds Chris Crane, who announced in November that he would step down at yearend for health reasons.

Spokesperson Linsey Wisniewski said Butler will relocate to the Chicago area from Baltimore, where he has been living. The announcement quieted speculation that Exelon might move its headquarters out of Chicago.

In fact, no headquarters move was being considered, Wisniewski said.

Butler has been with Exelon since 2008 in several roles that included a stint overseeing legislative affairs for ComEd, one of six utilities under the company’s umbrella.

Wisniewski said Butler’s tenure at legislative affairs predated the nearly decade-long bribe scheme ComEd admitted to in 2020. ComEd agreed to a $200 million fine to settle charges that, to secure favorable legislation, it provided jobs and contracts for associates of a prominent public official, later identified as former House Speaker Michael Madigan.

As part of the settlement, ComEd agreed to cooperate in the Madigan probe, reform its lobbying practices and to give the U.S. attorney’s office annual reports about its compliance. ComEd’s former CEO and a former top lobbyist for the company are scheduled to go on trial in the case in March. No trial date has been set for Madigan, who denies wrongdoing.

The scandal was the biggest crisis during Crane’s tenure that otherwise saw Exelon acquire nuclear power plants in the U.S. and then spin off the power generation into a separate company. The deal let Exelon concentrate on distributing energy to more than 10 million customers. In announcing his decision to quit at the close of 2022, Crane, 63, said he needed treatment for “significant spinal and hip issues.”

Butler in a statement said he would build on Crane’s legacy. “We are in a unique position to lead our customers and the nation on a path to a clean energy future,” Butler said. “And we strive to not only lead the energy transformation, but to do so equitably, while strengthening our infrastructure, modernizing our energy delivery systems, and improving the lives of those in our communities.”

Besides joining Exelon’s board, Butler will become a new member of the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago, a public policy group that represents the voice of elite leaders in Chicago business.

Butler earned a bachelor’s degree from Bradley University and a Juris Doctor degree from Washington University in St. Louis. Before joining Exelon, he worked for printing company R.R. Donnelley and Central Illinois Light.

He joins Rosalind Brewer, CEO of Walgreens Boots Alliance, as Black leaders of large publicly traded companies in Chicago.