Roberta Bowman is senior vice president and chief sustainability officer for Duke Energy. She is responsible for the company’s integrated strategy to operate in a way that is good for people, the planet and profits. She also serves in the Office of the Chairman to represent the company to key stakeholders and works with a number of national, international and industry groups to advance issues important to Duke Energy.  She was named to her current position in March 2008.

Bowman has over 30 years of experience in the energy industry.

She joined Duke Power in 1986 as director of power plant community relations. After a series of promotions including general manager of public issues in 1993, general manager of communications and community relations in 1994 and manager of bulk power marketing in 1995, she was named vice president of communications and community relations in 1996. She served as the company’s chief communications officer for 10 years, and was appointed senior vice president of public affairs in January 2001. In that role, she led the corporation’s communications, public affairs and community relations functions, including The Duke Energy Foundation. Following the merger with Cinergy in 2006, she was named the company’s first corporate officer in sustainability as vice president of sustainability and community affairs. During her career, Bowman has also had responsibility for public policy; government and regulatory relations; and environment, health and safety.

Prior to joining the company, Bowman worked at Northeast Utilities in Hartford, Conn., from 1978 to 1986. She served as manager of nuclear information.

A native of West Hartford, Conn., Bowman graduated with distinction from Tufts University in Medford, Mass., with a bachelor of arts degree.

In 2007, Bowman was inducted into the North Carolina Public Relations Hall of Fame. Sponsored by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Journalism and Mass Communication, the PR Hall of Fame “recognizes individuals who have made exceptionally distinguished and career-long contributions to the field and who are strongly associated with the state of North Carolina.”

Bowman is involved in a number of community and professional activities. She serves on the board of trustees for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, North Carolina’s largest health insurer. She co-chaired the Executive Committee of the 2007 U.S. Women’s Open, which was held at Pine Needles Lodge and Golf Club in Southern Pines, N.C., and raised charitable funds to benefit a number of North Carolina non-profits important to women’s health and leadership. Bowman is a member of the board of directors of Goodwill Industries of the Southern Piedmont and is on an advisory group for the Foundation for the Carolinas. She is also a member of Women Executives and served on the boards of directors of the Public Affairs Council, Afro-American Cultural Center and Communications Council of the United Way.

Bowman was born in 1955. She is married to Andrew Bowman of Binghamton, N.Y.

Duke Energy, one of the largest power companies in the United States, supplies and delivers electricity to approximately 4 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.

December 1, 2008

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Roberta B. Bowman