Indrani Butany

Indrani Butany (BSc’96, MBA’00) is a sharply-focused energy guru at the top of her game who is extremely knowledgeable and excited about the transition to an electrified society – and a people person who is passionate about helping others, especially young, diverse professionals rising through the ranks and breaking barriers like she did.

Born in New Delhi but hailing from Toronto, Indrani is the only child of two over-achieving South Asian physicians, so when she enrolled at McMaster for an undergraduate degree in science, it was with the expectation that she too would become a doctor. By her second year, however, Indy knew that was never going to happen.

She returned to McMaster to enroll in the co-op MBA program at the DeGroote School of Business and her first job was with PWC, where she consulted on a project working with the Ontario Energy Board just as the retail market for electricity was opening up in the province.

Indrani worked in gas and electricity retailing and carbon market trading before landing in the utilities sector in 2009, where she quickly began climbing the corporate ladder. At Horizon Utilities Corporation and later Alectra Inc., she became Vice President of Regulatory Affairs and Chief Privacy Officer, providing leadership and shaping the regulatory framework for energy distribution in Ontario. In 2021, she was tapped to take the helm as President and CEO of Elexicon Energy Inc., the fourth largest municipally owned electricity distributor in Ontario.

Indrani is known for her high-energy and perseverance, but she says that her success is also due to thinking strategically and investing in relationships.