Vistra Names New President and Chief Financial Officer

Vistra announced the appointment of Jim Burke as president and chief financial officer, effective immediately.

Vistra is the parent of TXU and several other retail energy brands

Burke, who has been with Vistra and its predecessor companies since 2004, has been serving as Vistra's executive vice president and chief operating officer since 2016.

Vistra's outgoing CFO, David Campbell, will be leaving to join Evergy Inc., a Missouri-based regulated utility, as its chief executive officer following a transition period through the end of the year.

In his new capacity, Burke will assume broad responsibility for the company's accounting, risk, internal audit, treasury, tax, planning, M&A, and investor activities, along with overseeing the critical technology services function. Burke will continue to report to Curt Morgan, Vistra's chief executive officer

With Burke's move to CFO, his former position of COO is being eliminated and the various operational functions reporting to that position are being realigned within the organization.

The retail and generation businesses, including development of the zero-carbon Vistra Zero generation portfolio, will report to Morgan. Prior to this announcement, the Vistra board of directors initiated discussions with Morgan, which are ongoing, to extend the term of his employment agreement, "in recognition of his commitment to lead the company as it transitions to a low-to-no emissions fleet comprised primarily of natural gas, renewables, and energy storage while growing the company's retail business," Vistra said

Burke is a 20-year veteran of the electricity industry. Prior to his role as Vistra's COO, he previously served as chairman and CEO of TXU Energy, the leading competitive retailer in Texas and a subsidiary of Vistra and its predecessor company. Burke led TXU Energy from August 2005 to October 2016 after joining in late 2004 as senior vice president of TXU Energy's residential markets.

Before joining TXU Energy, Burke was president and COO of Gexa Energy, and vice president of residential marketing then senior vice president of consumer operations with Reliant Energy.