John Rowe
Co-Chair, Illinois Business Immigration Coalition
Chairman Emeritus, Exelon
John W. Rowe is Chairman Emeritus of Chicago-based Exelon Corporation, an electric utility serving Chicago, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, DC.
Rowe led Exelon from its formation in 2000 through the completion of its acquisition of Constellation Energy in 2012. Rowe previously held chief executive officer positions at the New England Electric System and Central Maine Power Company, served as general counsel of Consolidated Rail Corporation, and was a partner in the law firm of Isham, Lincoln & Beale. Rowe is a past chairman of Edison Electric Institute. He is the non-executive Chairman of the Board of SunCoke Energy and previously served on the boards of Northern Trust, Allstate, UnumProvident and Bank Boston.
Civic and Charitable Commitments
He is Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Illinois Holocaust Museum and the Advisory Council to the Oriental Institute. Rowe is a former chairman of the Commercial Club of Chicago, the Chicago History Museum, The Field Museum and Illinois Institute of Technology. He is a member of the boards of Artis-Naples, the Illinois Network of Charter Schools, the Northwestern University Settlement House, The Pritzker Military Library, and is a past president of the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation. He is a co-chairman of the American Business Immigration Coalition. The Rowes have founded two Professorships of Architecture and a Chair in Sustainable Energy at IIT, as well as the Rowe Chair in the History of American Politics, the Rowe Professorship in Byzantine History and the Rowe Professorship in Greek History at the University of Wisconsin, the Rowe Center in Virology at the Morgridge Institute, the Curator of Evolutionary Biology at the Field Museum and the Rowe Professorship in Egyptian history at the University of Chicago. The Trust co-founded the Rowe-Clark Math and Science Academy and the Rowe Elementary School. The Rowes have served as patrons of the Pope John Paul II parochial school.
Awards and Recognition
The Rowes have been widely recognized for civic and professional leadership: including the Chicago Humanities Festival Humanists of the Year presented to John and Jeanne, Henry Townley Heald Award from IIT, the Bertha Honore Palmer Making History Award for Distinction in Civic Leadership, presented to John and Jeanne, the “Hat’s Off” award from the Building & Construction Trades Department, AFL-CIO, The Spirit of Shakespeare Award from Chicago Shakespeare Theater, the Misericordia Heart of Mercy Award, the Edison Electric Institute Distinguished Leadership Award, election as a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce’s Daniel H. Burnham Award for Business and Civic Leadership, Illinois Holocaust Museum’s Humanitarian award, University of Arizona’s Executive of the Year Award, the Union League of Philadelphia’s Founder’s Award, the American Jewish Committee’s Civic Leadership Award, El Valor’s Corporate Visionary Award, the City Club of Chicago’s Citizen of the Year Award. In 2013, he was elected one of the six regents of the Illinois Institute of Technology.
Education & Family
Rowe holds undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Wisconsin, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and the Order of the Coif. He has also received that university’s Distinguished Alumni Award. Rowe holds honorary doctorates from the University of Wisconsin, DePaul University, Illinois Institute of Technology, Drexel University, University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, Bryant College, Thomas College and Dominican University.
Rowe and his wife, Jeanne, reside in Chicago, as does their son, William.
