Biography

Maria Pope is president and chief executive officer of Portland General Electric.

Under her leadership, PGE has accelerated the transition to a clean energy future by adding new wind, solar, and battery storage, strengthening the energy grid by integrating new technologies, and working with community stakeholders, customers, and policymakers to power the advancement of society. PGE has the largest voluntary renewable energy program in the country and was ranked the No. 1 utility in the Forrester U.S. Customer Experience Index.

Pope joined PGE in 2009 as chief financial officer and treasurer. She led PGE’s power generation facilities, wholesale power marketing and long-term resource strategy as senior vice president of Power Supply, Operations and Resource Strategy.

Prior to PGE, Pope was CFO of Mentor Graphics Corporation. She has held senior operating and finance positions in the technology, forest products and consumer products industries. She began her career in banking with Morgan Stanley.

Pope has two decades of board experience across diverse sectors. She is the past board chair and current lead independent director of Columbia Banking System, Inc. and the former board chair of the Oregon Business Council. She is the former chair of the Edison Electric Institute, the trade association that represents more than two hundred US investor-owned electric companies, as well as more than 60 international electricity providers. Pope represented the electric industry on the U.S. Secretary of Energy Advisory Board (SEAB), co-chaired the SEAB High-Tech and Data Center Working group and previously chaired the Electric Power Research Institute.

Pope is a graduate of the Stanford Graduate School of Business and Georgetown University.