John Rowe Starts as Chair of the Board of Trustees of IIT
John W. Rowe, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Exelon Corporation officially becomes Chair of the Board of Trustees at Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) on Thursday, November 9, when he presides over his first board meeting. Rowe replaces outgoing 16-year Chairman Robert Pritzker, an IIT alumnus, who will remain active at IIT serving as Chair of the Board’s Policy Committee and as Chair of the Pritzker Institute for Biomedical Science and Engineering Board.
"My term as chair begins at a time of phenomenal growth for the university," Rowe said. "Lew Collens and Bob Pritzker have fundamentally transformed IIT over the past 16 years, and I look forward to building on the foundation they have laid. At Exelon, we believe that supporting educational institutions is an investment that benefits the community and strengthens the work force."
Among the first priorities for Rowe is to find the successor for Collens, who has announced he will retire at the end of this academic year. Rowe is serving as Chair of the Presidential Search Committee and hopes to name a new president in the next several months.
"I look forward to working with John during this transition period," said Collens. "I believe the university is well positioned to attract a strong candidate whose vision for IIT can continue to enhance the national prominence of the university."
Rowe has a long and distinguished history of successfully managing power companies as CEO of Central Maine Power, New England Electric System and Unicom Corporation prior to the formation of Exelon. He worked with the Chicago law firm of Isham, Lincoln & Beale from 1970-1980, where he became a partner in 1978 and served as counsel to the Trustees of the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Railroad Company. He is a member of several boards, including Sunoco; The Northern Trust Corporation; The Art Institute of Chicago; The Chicago Club; The Chicago History Museum; The Field Museum; Wicell: The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation; and IIT's Mies van der Rohe Society.
Exelon is one of the nation's largest electric utilities, with 5.2 million customers and revenues of more than $15 billion. Fortune ranked Exelon as the number one utility company on its 2005 and 2006 lists of "America’s Most Admired Companies" and Forbes ranked Exelon as the number one utility company in the United States on its 2005 list of "The Best Managed Companies in America."
Founded in 1890, IIT is a Ph.D.-granting university with more than 6,700 students in engineering, sciences, architecture, psychology, design, humanities, business and law. IIT's interprofessional, technology-focused curriculum is designed to advance knowledge through research and scholarship, to cultivate invention improving the human condition, and to prepare students from throughout the world for a life of professional achievement, service to society, and individual fulfillment.
