George William Christian, Jr., SR/WA retired as the Director, Real Estate for Duke Energy in December 2016 after almost 39 years with the largest investor-owned electric utility in the country.   His team was responsible for the acquisition, management, and disposal of property and property rights (including all rights-of-way) for the franchised electric and gas business units in a seven-state area. These opportunities included nuclear, fossil, solar and wind generation sites as well as coal ash repositories, cell tower sites, substations, distribution centers, warehouses and major office needs. His team also negotiated, executed and managed all leases for corporate and business unit needs; land and/or buildings. Bill has a variety of experience within Duke Energy.  He began his career working in Customer Services and Billing.  He has also worked in Marketing and Distribution, holding many leadership positions and living in several S.C. and N.C. communities. He led the startup of a facility management effort eventually managing the Duke Power non-plant facilities in North Carolina prior to joining Real Estate Services. Bill holds the SR/WA professional designation from the International Right of Way Association and has held every officer position in Carolinas Chapter 31, including President and International Director.  Bill is also a qualified CLIMB instructor within the IRWA focusing on Property Management and Communication / Negotiating topics. He served on the International Professional Development Committee representing Region 6.  He now serves as a volunteer ethics officer.  Additionally, Bill has a B.S. degree in Accounting from Clemson University and MBA from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.  He also holds a Certified Facility Manager (CFM) designation earned through the International Facility Management Association. He is a Licensed General Contractor in N.C. and Licensed Real Estate Broker in both N.C. and S.C.