Draft:C. John Wilder

C. John Wilder is a U.S. energy industry executive and investor. He was the CEO of TXU Energy, a Fortune 500 company,  and founder and executive chairman of Bluescape Group. Wilder was hired as chief executive of TXU in 2004. He negotiated the sale of TXU in 2007, which at the time was the largest ever leveraged buyout.

Early life and education
Wilder earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Southeast Missouri State University in 1980, graduating magna cum laude. He earned a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Texas.

Career
In his early career, Wilder worked nearly twenty years at Royal Dutch Shell. He held about fifteen management positions and became the CEO of Shell Capital.

Wilder joined Entergy Corp. in 1998. In 2003, he became Entergy’s executive vice president and chief financial officer. In February 2004, Wilder joined TXU as CEO. When Wilder came on, TXU’s debt was above 70% of its market capitalization. As CEO, Wilder sold off assets, including an overseas utility, a telecom start-up, and a natural-gas distribution company. He repurchased debt and convertible securities to reduce fixed obligations and increase the company’s capacity to confront risk. He outsourced call center and billing functions. Wilder announced plans in 2006 to build 11 coal-fired plants in Texas. The plan drew protests from the public.

In 2007, Wilder negotiated TXU’s sale in a leveraged buyout by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR), TGP, and Goldman Sachs Group. The $45 billion deal was the largest leveraged buyout to date. Wilder received almost $300 million when he left TXU after the sale. After the 2007 TXU deal, Wilder founded Bluescape Resources, which invests in energy-related ventures and assets.

In September 2015, Wilder was hired as chairman of Exco Resources, an oil and gas producer whose share prices had fallen to about $1. The deal to hire Wilder included Bluescape buying $23.5 million in Exco stock, and Exco paying Bluescape consulting fees. Wilder resigned from Exco in November 2017.

In 2017, Wilder and Paul Singer, the head fund manager of Elliott Investment Management, acquired a stake and board membership in NRG Energy. In July 2017, Wilder and Singer put forward a plan for restructuring NRG through asset sales.

Personal life
Wilder is married to Susan Wilder. They have three children.