Theodore F. Craver Jr. is an American business executive. He is the retired chairman, president and chief executive officer (2008–2016) of

Edison International Edison International is a public utility A public utility company (usually just utility) is an organization that maintains the infrastructure for a public service (often also providing a service using that infrastructure). Public utilit ...

, a

public utility A public utility company (usually just utility) is an organization that maintains the infrastructure for a public service (often also providing a service using that infrastructure). Public utilities are subject to forms of public control and ...

holding company listed on the

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is the List of stock exchanges, largest stock excha ...

with $13 billion in revenues and $57 billion in assets.

Education

Craver graduated from the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics and international relations (1974) and a Master of Business Administration (1977).

Career

Financial services industry (1973–1996)

* Craver worked for

Security Pacific National Bank Security Pacific National Bank (SPNB) was a large U.S. bank headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was acquired by Bank of America in 1992. History On September 1, 1868, Hellman, Temple and Co. opened their first bank branch in Los ...

from 1973 to 1980 in the International Studies Section of the Economics Department, and later in the Foreign Exchange Department. * He worked for

Bankers Trust Company Bankers Trust was a historic American banking organization. The bank merged with Alex. Brown & Sons in 1997 before being acquired by Deutsche Bank in 1999. Deutsche Bank sold the Trust and Custody division of Bankers Trust to State Street Corpo ...

from 1980 to 1984 in various capital markets sales and trading roles in the Los Angeles, New York and Hong Kong offices. * Craver worked for

First Interstate Bancorp First Interstate Bancorp was a bank holding company based in the United States. Headquartered in Los Angeles, it was the nation's eighth largest banking company. Although First Interstate Bancorp was taken over by Wells Fargo in 1996, the name ...

from 1984 to 1996. He served as executive vice president (EVP) and chief financial officer of the

wholesale banking Wholesale banking is the provision of services by banks to larger customers or organizations such as mortgage brokers, large corporate clients, mid-sized companies, real estate developers and investors, international trade finance businesses, ...

subsidiary (1986–1991) and EVP and corporate treasurer at the parent company (1991–1996). As corporate treasurer, he was responsible for treasury and funding functions of the 13 subsidiary banks, asset and liability management,

investment management Investment management (sometimes referred to more generally as financial asset management) is the professional asset management of various Security (finance), securities, including shareholdings, Bond (finance), bonds, and other assets, such as r ...

of $10 billion bank portfolio and $300 million

venture capital Venture capital (VC) is a form of private equity financing provided by firms or funds to start-up company, startup, early-stage, and emerging companies, that have been deemed to have high growth potential or that have demonstrated high growth in ...

portfolio, bank

broker dealer In financial services, a broker-dealer is a natural person, company or other organization that engages in the business of trading securities for its own account or on behalf of its customers. Broker-dealers are at the heart of the securities and ...

, and

mergers and acquisitions Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of a company, business organization, or one of their operating units is transferred to or consolidated with another entity. They may happen through direct absorpt ...

Energy and utilities (1996–2016)

Craver joined

in 1996 as Treasurer of Edison International and Southern California Edison. He became the chief executive officer of Edison Enterprises in 1999, charged with the restructuring of Edison's competitive retail electric business. He served as Chief Financial Officer of Edison International from 2000 to 2004. From 2005 to 2007, he served as chief executive officer of Edison Mission Group, Edison International's

independent power producer An independent power producer (IPP) or non-utility generator (NUG) is an entity that is not a public utility but owns facilities to generate electric power for sale to utilities and end users. NUGs may be privately held facilities, corporations ...

. Craver was elected a director of Edison International in October 2007, president in April 2008, and chairman and chief executive officer in August 2008. He retired as chairman and CEO in September 2016. Accomplishments during his tenure as CEO included moving Edison's shares from an industry median position to the top quartile in 5-year

total shareholder return Total shareholder return (TSR) (or simply total return) is a measure of the performance of different companies' stocks and shares over time. It combines share price appreciation and dividends paid to show the total return to the shareholder expres ...

; doubling annual capital investment in electric infrastructure, which resulted in doubling the rate base and earnings per share of the regulated utility; and increasing dividends by 57%. He repositioned Edison International's business portfolio: the company exited the independent power generation business, and he repositioned the regulated utility, Southern California Edison, to deemphasize investment in electric generation and focus investment on the transmission and distribution of electricity and modernizing the

grid Grid, The Grid, or GRID may refer to: Space partitioning * Regular grid, a tessellation of space with translational symmetry, typically formed from parallelograms or higher-dimensional analogs ** Grid graph, a graph structure with nodes connec ...

. He initiated an Operational Excellence program to improve customer experience, improve quality and efficiency of operations, and reduce costs and customer rates. In 2009, Craver successfully negotiated for a

solar energy Solar energy is the radiant energy from the Sun's sunlight, light and heat, which can be harnessed using a range of technologies such as solar electricity, solar thermal energy (including solar water heating) and solar architecture. It is a ...

contract for Edison to install solar panels on unused commercial rooftops across Southern California. The contract also allows the company to solicit other solar-power companies to install solar panels and sell the power back to Edison. Craver suggested this would strengthen the electrical grid in Southern California and create jobs. During his term as Edison CEO, Craver served on the board of directors of the

Electric Power Research Institute EPRI, is an American independent, nonprofit organization that conducts research and development related to the generation, delivery, and use of electricity to help address challenges in the energy industry, including reliability, efficiency, affo ...

, the

Institute of Nuclear Power Operations The Institute of Nuclear Power Operations (INPO), headquartered in Atlanta, GA, is an organization established in 1979 by the U.S. nuclear power industry in response to recommendations by the Kemeny Commission Report, following the investigation ...

, the

Edison Electric Institute The Edison Electric Institute (EEI) is an association that represents all U.S. investor-owned electric companies. In its official communications, EEI mostly cast doubt on climate change in the 1990s. In the 2000s, EEI no longer cast doubt on clim ...

and the Electric Drive Transportation Association. He also served as chairman of the Electric Power Research Institute (2011–2012) and of the Edison Electric Institute (2014–2015).

Awards

* Electric Light & Power, Large Utility CEO of the Year (2014) * Edison Electric Institute, Distinguished Leadership Award (2016) * Boy Scouts of America: Americanism Award, Distinguished Eagle Scout Award (2016)

Personal life

Craver resides with his wife in Los Angeles, California. He is an

Eagle Scout Eagle Scout is the highest rank attainable in the Scouts BSA program of Scouting America. Since its inception in 1911, only four percent of Scouts have earned this rank after a lengthy review process. The Eagle Scout rank has been earned by over ...

(1967).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Craver, Theodore F. Jr. American energy industry executives Southern California Edison Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American chairpersons of corporations American chief executives Businesspeople from Los Angeles Marshall School of Business alumni