Joseph Bergstein Jr.
Summary
Joseph Bergstein Jr. is PPL Corporation’s Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, a role he has held since April 12, 2021 after becoming the company’s senior vice president and CFO in July 2019.
Biography
Bergstein joined PPL in 1999 after working at AmeriGas Partners. Before becoming CFO, he served in investor relations, corporate development and planning, financial planning, and treasury roles. As treasurer from 2016 to 2018, he oversaw financing and investing activities, capital-market transactions, and efforts to manage interest-rate and foreign-currency risk. Bergstein led PPL’s investor-relations efforts during two major U.S. utility-sector cash acquisitions and the spinoff of PPL’s competitive energy business. In his current role, he oversees investor relations, treasury, financial planning and analysis, tax, risk management, controllership, strategic development, and supply-chain functions. He earned a bachelor’s degree in business management from Bloomsburg University and serves on several nonprofit and industry boards, including ArtsQuest and the Electric Power Research Institute.
Notable achievements
- Led PPL’s investor-relations and financial-planning work during major utility acquisitions and the 2015 generation-business spinoff.
- Oversaw treasury responsibilities during 2016–2018, including capital-market transactions and financial-risk management.
- Helped support the financing and financial planning for PPL’s 2022 acquisition of Narragansett Electric, now Rhode Island Energy.
- Supported PPL’s multiyear capital-investment program focused on utility infrastructure, generation, and grid modernization.
- PPL reported 2025 earnings from ongoing operations of $1.81 per share and a 2029 business-plan update extending its earnings-growth targets.
Problem areas / controversies
- PPL’s Rhode Island Energy acquisition involved substantial financing commitments and ongoing integration costs, including transition-services expenses.
- The acquired Rhode Island utility has faced regulatory review of infrastructure spending, rate cases, customer affordability, and service performance.
- Rhode Island Energy encountered billing and operational complaints during the post-acquisition integration period.
- No major personal misconduct or securities-law controversy involving Bergstein was identified in the company biographies and recent SEC filings reviewed.