Patricia Kessler Poppe (born 1969)[2] is an American businesswoman and business executive.[3] Poppe is the first female executive to serve as the CEO of one Fortune 500 and become CEO of another. She was president and CEO of CMS Energy from July 2016 to December 2020.[4][5][6] In November 2020, it was announced that she would be leaving CMS Energy and joining PG&E as CEO starting January 4, 2021.
Starting in 1990 Poppe worked for General Motors for 15 years, holding several positions.[9] In 2005[9] she joined DTE Energy[10][1] as a power plant director, then becoming director of energy optimization.[2]
In December 2010 Consumers Energy announced that it had hired her, and the first of the next year,[11] Poppe joined CMS Energy in 2011,[8][1] when she became VP of customer operations.[4] From November 15, 2013 to January 2015 she was VP of customer experience.[4] From January 2015 she was senior vice president of distribution operations, engineering and transmission starting in March 2015, before becoming CEO in July 2016, succeeding John Russell.[8][1] She also became president-elect, with the positive effective on July 1, 2016.[2] She remained president in 2017.[12][13] In February 2017, she co-wrote a guest column for Michigan Live in support of a new non-discrimination ordinance.[14]
In 2016, Crain's Detroit Business named her one of 100 Most Influential Women.[2][9] She is an inductee into the Automotive Hall of Fame.[3]
In November 2020, it was announced that Poppe would be leaving CMS Energy on December 1, 2020 to become CEO of Pacific Gas & Electric on January 4, 2021.[15][16] In April 2022, it was reported that PG&E CEO Patti Poppe received over $50 million in total direct compensation for her work in 2021.[17]
She as of 2016 was involved with Michigan Women's Foundation-Power of 100 Women and the Detroit Regional Chamber, Business Leaders for Michigan; advisory boards for the Jackson Symphony Orchestra and Purdue University Society of Women Engineers Industrial.[2]
