NorthWestern Honored for Gender Diversity on its Board of Directors

BUTTE, Mont., June 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/-- NorthWestern Energy (NYSE: NWE) has been recognized for the gender diversity of its board of directors by a national organization.

The organization, 2020 Women on Boards, has named NorthWestern to its directory and tabbed the utility as a "W" (short for Winning – the highest category) company in recognition of the fact that women represent more than 20 percent of its board composition. Three of the eight independent (non-employee) NorthWestern directors are female.

"We have a national caliber board of directors, with a wide range of experience, background and perspective," said CEO Bob Rowe. "This has consistently produced better deliberation and decision making, which benefits our customers and the company."  Rowe is the only non-independent (employee) director.

The three female NorthWestern board members are Julia Johnson, president of NetCommunications; Britt Ide, president of Ide Energy and Strategy; and Linda G. Sullivan, executive vice president and chief financial officer of American Water.

2020 Women on Boards is a non-profit grassroots campaign committed to increasing the percentage of women who serve on company boards to 20 percent or greater by the year 2020. The campaign believes that diversity of thought is essential to good corporate governance and that corporate boards of directors should reflect company stakeholders: customers, employees and shareholders.

The complete list of "W" Companies can be found in 2020 Women on Boards' Gender Diversity Directory, a database that ranks 1,820 of the U.S.'s leading businesses according to the number of women on their boards. The Gender Diversity Index—a subset of the Directory—tracks progress for women on boards among the Fortune 1000 companies. The GDI has tracked the number of women on boards since 2011.

NorthWestern Energy is also one of the companies included in the State Street Global Advisors Gender Diversity Index ETF, an investment fund that provides investor exposure to U.S. companies with greater gender diversity within boards and senior leadership. 

Keep up with NorthWestern Energy news on Facebook and on Twitter (@Northwestern_MT).

About NorthWestern Energy (NYSE: NWE)
NorthWestern Energy provides electricity and natural gas in the Upper Midwest and Northwest, serving approximately 709,600 customers in Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska. More information on NorthWestern Energy is available on the company's website at www.northwesternenergy.com.

SOURCE NorthWestern Corporation

Related Links

http://www.northwesternenergy.com