Piedmont Natural Gas Vice President Ranelle Warfield to Retire At Fiscal Year End of Year

CHARLOTTE, N.C., March 6, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Piedmont Natural Gas (NYSE: PNY) today announced that Ranelle Q. Warfield, Vice President of Customer Service, will be retiring from the Company on October 31, 2014 after 33 years of service with Piedmont.  Ms. Warfield, who began her career at Piedmont Natural Gas in 1981 in the Company's sales organization, rose to the position of Vice President of Sales and Marketing in August 2004 before being named to her current position in Customer Service in October 2009. A graduate of Virginia Tech, Ms. Warfield has been active in various industry and community organizations throughout her career and currently serves on the boards of the Piedmont Natural Gas Foundation and the March of Dimes – Greater Piedmont.

Piedmont Natural Gas Chairman, President, and CEO, Thomas E. Skains, commented on Ms. Warfield's retirement, "Ranelle has been a valued member of our management team for many years and has contributed greatly to our success.  As a leader, her management style of collaboration and inclusion fits our core values so well and she has been an excellent role model for many in our Company.  She will be missed greatly but we wish her the absolute best in this new chapter in her life."  

Company Announces Executive Promotions

Also today, Piedmont Natural Gas announced the elections of Brian C. Woody to the position of Vice President – Customer Experience effective November 1, 2014 to replace Ms. Warfield upon her retirement from the Company on October 31, 2014, and of Judy Z. Mayo to the position of Vice President, Corporate Secretary and Deputy General Counsel effective March 6, 2014.

Mr. Woody, previously Piedmont's Managing Director – Field Customer Service, will continue reporting to Frank H. Yoho, Piedmont's Senior Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer.  Mr. Woody will retain his current field customer service responsibilities in addition to assuming responsibility for Piedmont's customer contact centers.  Mr. Woody joined Piedmont Natural Gas in 1996 in the Company's South Carolina field operations as a gas fitter.  Since that time, Mr. Woody has held a number of managerial positions at the Company including Director of Call Center Operations and Operations Manager.  Mr. Woody, who graduated with a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Limestone College is actively involved the community and currently serves as a board member of the Carolina Raptor Center.

Commenting on Mr. Woody's promotion, Frank Yoho said, "We are pleased to have someone with Brian's leadership skills and capabilities take on this important role at Piedmont.  Customer service is very important to Piedmont Natural Gas and having someone like Brian, who has excellent people skills and a unique understanding of customer needs and concerns, is a real plus."

Judy Z. Mayo, who is promoted to the position of Vice President, Corporate Secretary and Deputy General Counsel, joined Piedmont Natural Gas in 2006 as the Company's Deputy General Counsel and Assistant Corporate Secretary.  Prior to joining Piedmont, Ms. Mayo was an Associate General Counsel for Duke Energy.  Ms. Mayo will continue to be directly involved in the Company's Securities and Exchange Commission-related work and in other corporate and financial transaction activities and filings and will also assume full Corporate Secretary responsibilities.  Ms. Mayo will continue reporting to Ms. Jane Lewis-Raymond, Piedmont Natural Gas' Senior Vice President, Chief Legal, Compliance and External Relations Officer.  Ms. Mayo received her J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School and her undergraduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania.

Commenting on Ms. Mayo's promotion, Ms. Lewis-Raymond said, "We're very pleased and excited to welcome Judy as a member of our executive officer team.  Judy's knowledge and experience, along with her engaging leadership style and people skills make her a valued member of our leadership team and we look forward to her continued contributions to Piedmont's success."

About Piedmont Natural Gas

Piedmont Natural Gas is an energy services company primarily engaged in the distribution of natural gas to more than one million residential, commercial, industrial and power generation utility customers in portions of North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee, including customers served by municipalities who are wholesale customers. Our subsidiaries are invested in joint venture, energy-related businesses, including unregulated retail natural gas marketing, and regulated interstate natural gas transportation and storage, and regulated intrastate natural gas transportation businesses. More information about Piedmont Natural Gas is available on the Internet at http://www.piedmontng.com/.

SOURCE Piedmont Natural Gas