01/16/12 NIPSCO Friday announced the South Bend area members of its 2012 Community Advisory Panel (CAP) – a diverse group of 148 local leaders representing all of NIPSCO’s 30-county service area that contributes to the Company’s commitment to improve service and foster open dialogue with customers and communities. 

 The South Bend chapter is one of five regional Panels representing all of northern Indiana – the West, Central, Fort Wayne, North Central and Wabash Valley Regions. The groups, which originated in 1990, meet three times each year to discuss current topics relative to NIPSCO’s operations and customer programs.  Members of the 2012 South Bend chapter include:  

•  Jim Bottorff, WTCA 1050-AM and WZOC 94.3-FM

•  Dan Brown, Phend & Brown, Inc.

•  Lynn Coleman, City of South Bend

•  Max Courtney, Community Volunteer

•  Mark Dobson, Warsaw-Kosciusko County Chamber of Commerce

•  Francis Ellert, Coca-Cola Bottling, Plymouth

•  John Foegley, Foegley Landscape

•  Bruce Greenberg, Family and Children’s Center

•  John Grolich, Community Volunteer

•  Kyle Hannon, Greater Elkhart Chamber of Commerce

•  Dorinda Heiden-Guss, Economic Development Corporation of Elkhart County

•  Allison Heyde, Rochester-Lake Manitou Chamber of Commerce

•  Jeff Jones, Indiana University South Bend

•  Jim Lopez, South Bend Fire Department

•  Rudy Reyes, University of Notre Dame

•  George Robertson, Kosciusko Economic Development Corporation

•  Vivian Sallie, Sallie & Associates Communications

•  Mayor Mark Senter, City of Plymouth

•  Karen Sommers, United Way of St. Joseph Co., 2-1-1

•  Chris Taelman, Saint Mary’s College

•  Charles Weaver, Starke County Economic Development Foundation

“Our Community Advisory Panel members are the eyes and ears of our local communities and the input they provide plays an important role in helping us continually improve how we serve a very diverse customer base across northern Indiana,” said NIPSCO CEO Jimmy Staton.

In thanks for their time and volunteerism, NIPSCO makes a donation in each member’s name to a nonprofit of his or her choice. Those donations have amounted to $82,550 to more than 200 organizations since 2004.

Year-to-date contributions for the South Bend CAP totaled $11,200 since the donation program’s 2004 inception. The donations support local priorities, such as health and human services; environmental stewardship; education and youth development; economic development; and faith-based services.

For more information on NIPSCO’s community investments, visit NIPSCO.com/AboutUs.