Bruce Williamson
President and CEO of Cleco Corporation

Bruce WilliamsonBruce A. Williamson’s experience as a senior energy industry executive virtually spans the entire energy value chain, including exploration and production, midstream and downstream, pipelines and electric power.

Williamson became president and chief executive officer of Cleco Corp. in July 2011. Cleco is a regional energy company headquartered in Pineville, La. that operates a regulated electric utility company, Cleco Power LLC, which serves about 279,000 retail customers across Louisiana. Cleco also operates a wholesale energy business, Cleco Midstream Resources LLC.

Williamson started his career in 1981 with Shell Oil Co., where he worked primarily in the exploration and production and financial functions, advancing to Assistant Treasurer. In 1995, he joined Panhandle Eastern Pipeline Co., later known as PanEnergy, advancing to Senior Vice President Finance & Corporate Development and led the negotiations to merge PanEnergy with Duke Power to create Duke Energy in 1998. At Duke Energy, Williamson advanced to the position of President and CEO of Duke Energy Global Markets, with responsibility for all globally priced commodity businesses, international businesses and engineering and services business outside of the regulated electric business. In 2002, Williamson became Chairman, President and CEO of Dynegy Inc. 

At Dynegy, Williamson implemented a culture of ethics and compliance for which he received an award from the President's White Collar Crime Task Force. Williamson also restructured Dynegy outside of bankruptcy and reduced Dynegy's outstanding debt by more than $10 billion. He also led the electric power industry by entering into the first fleet-wide consent decree with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Justice to clean up coal plant emissions of NOx, mercury and other particulates across the Dynegy coal fleet.  Williamson retired from Dynegy in 2011. 

Williamson also serves on the board of Questar Corp., a leading energy company involved in natural gas production, transmission and distribution.  He is also on the board of Houston-based Crime Stoppers.

Williamson earned a bachelor's degree in finance from the University of Montana and a master's of business administration from the University of Houston. He is active in UH, serving on the Dean's Advisory Board for the C.T. Bauer College of Business and the Chancellor's National Advisory Council.