B. Keith Trent Group Executive and Chief Strategy, Policy and Regulatory Officer
Keith Trent is group executive and chief strategy, policy and regulatory officer for Duke Energy. He is responsible for strategy, federal policy and government affairs, energy efficiency and technology initiatives, environmental health and safety policy, corporate communications, and community affairs. In addition, Trent has oversight of the regulated utility companies in five states -- Duke Energy Carolinas, Duke Energy Indiana, Duke Energy Ohio and Duke Energy Kentucky. He was named to his current position in April 2007.
Trent has more than 18 years of experience as an accomplished counselor.
He joined Duke Energy in May 2002 as general counsel, litigation. He was responsible for managing all major litigation and government investigations for the enterprise. The labor and employment, and environmental, health and safety legal teams also reported to Trent. He was named group vice president, general counsel and secretary in June 2005 and group executive and chief development officer in April 2006. In that role, he led corporate development, including corporate strategy, and mergers and acquisitions. He was named group executive and chief strategy and policy officer in September 2006.
Trent previously served as a partner in the law firm Snell, Brannian & Trent, since October 1991. Prior to that, he was an attorney at Jackson Walker in Dallas, Texas. He began his career as a reservoir/production engineer with Arco Oil & Gas in Houston in January 1982.
Trent earned a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering, with honors, from Southern Methodist University and a juris doctor degree, with high honors, from the University of Texas College of Law. He also completed the Harvard Business School Advanced Management Program. Trent is licensed to practice law in North Carolina and Texas, as well as numerous federal district courts, and the United States Supreme Court. He is a member of the Texas State Bar, American Bar Association, Houston Bar Association, North Carolina State Bar and Mecklenburg County Bar.
Trent serves on the board of directors of the National Association of Manufacturers, the board of visitors at the Wake Forest University Babcock Graduate School of Management and is a member of The Keystone Energy Board.
A native of North Little Rock, Ark., Trent was born in 1959. He and his wife, Lucy, have two sons.
Duke Energy, one of the largest power companies in the United States, supplies and delivers electricity to approximately 3.9 million customers in the Carolinas and the Midwest. The company also distributes natural gas in Ohio and Kentucky, generates electricity in Latin America, and is a joint-venture partner in a U.S. real estate company. Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., Duke Energy is a Fortune 500 company traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol DUK.April 18, 2008
