Katherine Neebe serves as vice president of national engagement and strategy and chief sustainability officer for Duke Energy. She also serves as president of the Duke Energy Foundation. In these capacities, she leads Duke Energy’s stakeholder engagement efforts to develop solutions to meet customer needs for continued reliable and affordable energy – while simultaneously working to achieve the company’s goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

The Duke Energy Foundation provides philanthropic support to meet the needs of communities where Duke Energy customers live and work.

Katherine joined Duke Energy in August 2020 from Walmart, where she led environmental, social and governance strategy and oversaw stakeholder engagement on behalf of Walmart’s sustainability team.

From 2007-2013, Katherine was at the World Wildlife Fund where she managed one of the world’s largest corporate-NGO partnerships, a $97 million sustainability-driven initiative with The Coca-Cola Company focused on water, agriculture and climate, which was active in over 45 countries.

Over the past 20 years, Katherine has worked with a wide range of corporate, government and nonprofit organizations. Weaving together her intensive business experience and commitment to social and environmental responsibility, she brings in-depth insight to effective stakeholder engagement and an ability to ground sustainability into actionable terms.

Katherine is a First Movers fellow through the Aspen Institute, received her Master of Business Administration from The Darden School at the University of Virginia and holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from Colorado College.

Duke Energy, one of the largest energy holding companies in the United States, supplies and delivers electric services to approximately 7.7 million customers in the Southeast and Midwest. The company also distributes natural gas services to approximately 1.6 million customers in the Carolinas, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee. Its commercial business operates a growing renewable energy portfolio across the United States. Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., Duke Energy is a Fortune 150 company traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol DUK.