At NiSource, we operate with a clear understanding that our corporate mission extends far beyond our role as an energy utility. Our business strategies are designed to not only enhance our ability to provide a reliable and safe supply of energy, but to also serve as a local partner driving economic inclusion in the communities we serve.
Through this commitment, we have established an inclusive mindset which has become part of our long-term business strategy. We believe that the growth and success of our company cannot be complete unless we execute a plan that applies the tenets of such a mindset to nurture inclusive economies in communities everywhere we serve customers.
As a utility company, whose core business is natural gas and electricity but with an eye on bringing alternative energy sources to market, NiSource has a tremendous opportunity to expand the services we offer to heat and comfort homes and businesses and power industries. We are already leveraging innovative technologies to augment our current infrastructure to satisfy commercial, industrial and residential customer needs. We’re also modernizing our systems to make our energy options more scalable, cost efficient and environmentally sound. And in the next decade, NiSource will launch infrastructure projects that will help produce jobs and drive local economic growth.
At NiSource, we have committed to ensuring these exciting new business ventures become seeds for nurturing inclusive economies. That means expanding our hiring pools to include underserved people in overlooked communities, thus giving more people access to stable, great paying jobs in the same communities where they live. By providing jobs and driving innovation, we will be able to help people pay their bills, care for their families, and improve their quality of life and raise the value of the communities where they live. This is our idea for turning business opportunities into stimulators for economic inclusion.
So, where does this company mindset come from? It starts at the top from our diverse and inclusive Board of Directors. Our 12-member Board, made up of 33-percent women and 33-percent people of color, brings a wealth of experience and diversity of thought from industries including energy, transportation, finance, telecommunications, technology and more. They have led workplace cultures and understand the importance of community outreach and are now extending their experiences and professional leadership qualities to NiSource.
This inclusive mindset permeates through our NiSource executive leadership team, driving our vision to become a premier, innovative and trusted energy partner. Our way of living up to that vision is to be accessible and to truly lean into the idea of viewing our customers as partners.
I am incredibly proud of the progress we have made since I had the privilege of stepping in as President and CEO at NiSource in early 2022. From day one, we have made diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) not just a slogan that applies to some, but a part of our corporate strategy that would apply to all – including our customers. For us, the practice of inclusion does not mean exclusion. Inclusion represents a chance for anyone to have access to the same opportunity as the next person. It guarantees you nothing but a chance to be heard, to be seen and to be given the same consideration as anyone else.
At NiSource, we’re applying this same thinking to our business strategies for the communities we serve in hopes of nurturing inclusive and thriving local economies. It’s this mindset that moves NiSource beyond just being a utility company, to being a community partner everywhere our employees and customers live andwork.
