Institute for Public Relations

Rick White is vice president-Corporate Communication at Wisconsin Energy Corporation where he is responsible for media and public relations, public outreach, employee communication, brand and marketing communication, shareholder communication and creative services for the company and its utility subsidiary, We Energies; for We Power, a subsidiary that designs, owns and builds electric generating facilities; and for Wispark, a full-service real estate development subsidiary focused on business parks, industrial/office buildings and urban redevelopment.

Before joining Wisconsin Energy, Rick was vice president-Communications and Community Relations for Carolina Power and Light Company (now Progress Energy Carolinas) in Raleigh, North Carolina.  Prior to his work at CP&L, he was the South Carolina public affairs manager for GTE (now Verizon). Earlier, he served as a squadron commander and public affairs officer in the U.S. Air Force.

Rick is a graduate of the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill with a B.A. in Radio, Television and Motion Pictures.

He is a member of the Arthur W. Page Society, the Public Relations Seminar and the Public Relations Society of America, and is on the board of advisors of the Plank Center for Leadership in Public Relations at the University of Alabama.

He has served in leadership roles in a variety of energy industry organizations including the Edison Electric Institute, the Electric Power Research Institute, the Nuclear Energy Institute, the Institute for Nuclear Power Operations, the American Gas Association and the American Coalition for Clean Coal Energy.

In the community, he is a member and past chair of the board of visitors of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, member and past chair of the Public Policy Forum, and is a director of Junior Achievement of Wisconsin. He is a past board member of the Milwaukee Urban League and the United Way of Greater Milwaukee.