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esearch and testing of reactors).
Above that is the Partnership for Critical
Infrastructure Security, where he is
Chairman Emeritus and member of the
board. PCIS is made up of the heads of
each of those 15 infrastructure sectors
mentioned above.
But all that is extra-curricular activity.
Wallace’s day job is Vice Chairman of
Constellation Energy, located in Baltimore,
Maryland, and President and CEO of
Constellation Energy’s Nuclear Group.
As such, he is in the vanguard of the
nuclear renaissance in the United States.
At age 60, when many executives are
preparing for retirement, Wallace has
increased the pace a couple notches.
Eighty hour weeks are common.
Mike Wallace is one of four brothers who
were raised in the Irish neighbourhoods of
Chicago on a shoestring by their mother
after their father died when Mike was 12.
"That caused me to move into an
independent role rather quickly," Wallace
says. "We were scrappy Irish brothers.
I didn’t lead them, exactly, but I was the
oldest." There was no money for college,
but in high school Wallace learned he
could get an ROTC scholarship. He took
the test, passed the physical, and selected
Marquette University. Working summers,
he made enough money to pay room and
board. "When my next brother came along
I said look, this isn’t too hard. He passed
the test, passed the physical, went to the
University of Illinois. The third brother
was two years behind. He didn’t get a
scholarship, but we helped him. Same
with the youngest."
Sitting in the library of his expansive
house on one of Annapolis’ many creeks,
Wallace says that early independence and
responsibility laid the foundation for his
ability to work with people, and his
uncommon leadership skills. "I have a
strong confidence in myself," he says.
"I’m comfortable with what I can do.
There’s a lot I don’t know, but not much
I can’t do." One only had to remember the
way he took to that first race in the BVI
to believe him.
An electrical engineering candidate at
Marquette, he was attracted to nuclear
energy junior year when he took the
introductory course. Wallace owed the
Navy five years, and with nuclearpowered
submarines on the prowl since
1955, when Nautilus was launched, he
thought nuclear would be an intriguing
way to go. >
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