Bruce Williamson (businessman)

Bruce Williamson is an American energy company executive. He is best known as a former chief executive office (CEO) for global markets of North Carolina-based Duke Energy and CEO of Houston-based Dynegy.

Williamson was born in Great Falls, Montana to George and June Williamson, and graduated from Great Falls High School in 1977. He spent his freshman year of college at the University of Idaho, transferred to the University of Montana-Missoula, and graduated with a bachelor's degree in finance in 1981. After discovering that the only employment he could get in Montana was a $10,000-a-year bank job, he took a position with Shell Oil in Houston, Texas, largely because a friend lived there. He later obtained a Master of Business Administration from the University of Houston.

Williamson left Shell to work for Pan Energy Corporation. Pan Energy merged with the Duke Power Company in 1997 to become Duke Energy. Williamson rose to the position of President and CEO of Duke Energy Global Markets. In 2002, he was named President and Chief Executive Officer of Dynegy. As the CEO of Dynegy, Williamson received an award from the President's White Collar Task Force. Further, the former United States Attorney for the Southern District of Texas, Michael Shelby, stated that Williamson becoming CEO, "has changed the standard operating procedures in such a way that honesty and candor [are] part of the business plan," and Williamson "helped ferret out potential wrongdoers." As the CEO of Dynegy, Williamson restructured Dynegy out of bankruptcy, and reduced Dynegy's outstanding debt by over $10 billion. Williamson resigned as CEO of Dynegy on February 10, 2011, after two takeovers over the company (both of which he supported) failed. In 2012, Dynegy filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy to settle with creditors who held around $2.5 Billion in claims over one of its subsidiaries.

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