Roger Sant

Charles Rossotti, Chairman

The AES Corporation is a Fortune 200 company that generates and distributes electrical power. AES is headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, and is one of the world's leading power companies, generating and distributing electric power in 17 countries and employing 21,000 people worldwide.

The company was founded on January 28, 1981, as Applied Energy Services by Roger Sant and Dennis Bakke who met in the Nixon/Ford Administration as appointees in the Federal Energy Administration. The company was initially a consulting firm; it became AES Corporation, which went public in 1991. Sant was Chairman, CEO, and President and Bakke was Executive Vice President until 1987 when Bakke became President. Bakke became CEO in 1994 until he resigned in 2002. Sant remained as Executive Chairman until 2003 and as a member of the board until 2006.

Bakke and Sant expanded AES at a breakneck pace, building power plants in 29 countries and expanding its staff from 1,400 to 32,000 employees. At the same time, they advocated a decentralized management system, promoting social responsibility over profits.

AES acquired the assets of Indianapolis Power & Light, Ipalco, in 2000.

After the collapse of Enron in 2002, another energy giant, AES faced a liquidity crisis and Bakke resigned. Paul Hanrahan was appointed President and CEO and served for 10 years as the company stabilized. In 2012 he resigned and Andres Gluski was named President and CEO to the present.

AES acquired DPL Inc. known as Dayton Power & Light in 2011.

In fiscal 2015 AES's total revenue was $15 billion.