Richard Donaldson is the Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer at Duke Energy, where he leads the company’s digital strategy, technology initiatives, infrastructure operations, and telecommunications. He focuses on leveraging digital capabilities and artificial intelligence to modernize customer experiences, transform operations, and advance the company’s energy transition goals.
Since joining Duke Energy in 2001 as a software engineer, Donaldson has advanced through roles in application architecture, private wireless engineering, the IT Program Management Office, and data and analytics. He later directed digital transformation as managing director and vice president of digital transformation and enterprise data before being named CIO in 2025. His career reflects a consistent focus on modernizing technology, strengthening operations, and driving enterprise-scale transformation.
Donaldson also serves as vice chairman of Goodwill Industries of the Southern Piedmont’s board and is a former board chair of Apparo.
On the 55th episode of Enterprise AI Innovators, Richard Donaldson, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer at Duke Energy, discusses what it takes to harness AI across a century-old utility facing soaring energy demands. With intertwined legacy systems, generational regulatory complexity, and enterprise-scale data, Richard offers a grounded insight: AI delivers exponential value, but only once the plumbing is secure.
On the 55th episode of Enterprise AI Innovators, Richard Donaldson, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer at Duke Energy, discusses what it takes to harness AI across a century-old utility facing soaring energy demands. With intertwined legacy systems, generational regulatory complexity, and enterprise-scale data, Richard offers a grounded insight: AI delivers exponential value, but only once the plumbing is secure.
Read about how Richard is leading an AI transformation across one of America’s largest utility companies. He shares pragmatic use cases, like conversational AI for regulatory inquiries and generative tools accelerating nuclear relicensing, that crystallize efficiency, precision, and operational impact. Underpinning it all is governance, data readiness, and relentless human-centered change.
