Katherine Combs is SVP, corporate governance, corporate secretary and deputy general counsel for Exelon, the largest electric and gas utility, nuclear power generator and power marketer in the US and was named “Most Admired Utility” by Fortune Magazine in 2004, 2005 and 2006.

As a member of Exelon’s senior management and the legal council, she provides legal advice and support for the Exelon board of directors and its committees. She is responsible for corporate governance and for compliance with the requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and other corporate governance reforms. She also oversees SEC reporting and compliance, provides legal counseling on securities laws and regulations and manages the shareholder services function. She chairs Exelon’s ethics and compliance committee and manages the ethics and compliance program, including investigations of potential violations of the code of business conduct. She also chairs the corporate policies committee, is responsible for the development of overall corporate policies and monitoring compliance with them, and manages Exelon’s subsidiary management and records management functions. She is a director of the Exelon Foundation and a member of the Corporate Citizenship Review Committee that oversees Exelon’s charitable giving program.

Prior to the formation of Exelon, she served as deputy general counsel and corporate secretary of one of Exelon’s predecessor companies, PECO Energy Company, in Philadelphia, PA, and previously as PECO’s chief regulatory counsel. In the latter capacity, she was responsible for PECO’s state and federal regulatory matters during Pennsylvania’s transition to electric competition, and assisted in the negotiation of the terms of the retail competition legislation enacted in Pennsylvania. Prior to joining PECO Energy, she served as in-house regulatory counsel for Bell Telephone Company of Pennsylvania (now Verizon), and as an associate specializing in litigation with the law firm of Pepper Hamilton in Philadelphia.

She is a former member of the national board of the Society of Corporate Secretaries and Governance Professionals, the former chair of its Corporate Practices Committee (which develops monographs on best corporate governance practices), and past chair of the Society’s National Conference (2007). She serves on the board of “Inside the Boardroom”, a corporate governance series for executives sponsored by Drexel University’s LeBow College of Business. She also serves on the Steering Committee of Broadridge. She is a trustee of the Erikson Institute (a research institute and graduate school for early childhood education professionals), and chairs its audit committee. She is a member of the Chicago University Club, the Philadelphia Union League, the Forum of Executive Women, and the New York Athletic Club.

Prior to moving to Chicago, she served on the board of the Delaware Valley Association of Corporate Counsel, chaired the Public Utility Section of the Pennsylvania Bar Association and served on various committees of the American, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia and Federal Energy Bar Associations. She also served as director and capital campaign chair for Bartram’s Garden, America’s first botanic garden, as director and president of the Junior League of Philadelphia, and as director of the Volunteer Action Council (now part of the United Way).

She is a graduate of Northwestern University and received her law degree from the West Virginia University College of Law. She is a member of the Order of the Coif and the Order of the Barristers and was lead articles editor of the Law Review. She completed the executive program of Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business. She is a 2008 recipient of the Women’s Venture Fund’s “Highest Leaf Award”.

She is a native of West Virginia and she and her husband, Gerry, have three grown children.