Mark Kempic, president of Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania, Inc. and Columbia Gas of Maryland, Inc., both subsidiaries of NiSource Inc.
The CEO Conversations series returns Oct. 19 to Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus with guest speaker Mark Kempic, president of Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania, Inc. and Columbia Gas of Maryland, Inc., both subsidiaries of NiSource Inc., a Fortune 500 energy holding company based in Merrillville, Ind.
In his role as president, Kempic is responsible for designing and executing legislative, regulatory, and external strategies with a focus on delivering safe, reliable, and efficient natural gas customer service to more than 446,000 customers in Pennsylvania and Maryland.
Prior to assuming his current responsibilities in June 2012, Kempic served as the director of rates and regulatory policy. In this role, he was responsible for designing and executing rate and regulatory strategies for the companies, with a focus on ensuring regulatory compliance and providing an array of low-income and customer programs.
Kempic began his career with Columbia Gas in 1979 as a part-time night dispatcher and continued through the company, serving as an engineering technician, operations research analyst, information center analyst, gas supply analyst, and corporate planning coordinator.
From 1992 to 1998, he represented large industrial consumers of electricity and gas as an associate attorney for Emens, Kegler, Brown, Hill & Ritter and served as a regulatory counsel for Centerior Energy Corp., prior to returning to Columbia Gas as an attorney. In 2006, Kempic was named assistant general counsel for NiSource Corporate Services, where he managed a staff that provided substantive legal support in multiple jurisdictions and advised company officials on regulatory and legal matters.
Kempic holds professional memberships with a number of organizations, including the Allegheny Conference on Community Development and The Energy Association of Pennsylvania. He also serves on the board of the United Way of Washington County, the American Red Cross of Southwestern Pennsylvania, and the Animal Rescue League of Pittsburgh. He was recently elected chairman of the board of the American Red Cross of Southwestern Pennsylvania.
Kempic holds a bachelor’s degree in computer and information science from the University of Pittsburgh and an associate engineering degree in solar heating and cooling from Penn State. In 1991, he earned his juris doctor from Capital University School of Law. Kempic holds a license to practice law in four states: Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Massachusetts.
Kempic, a native of Uniontown, currently resides in Pittsburgh. He will speak Oct. 19 at 12:15 p.m. in Penn State Fayette’s Student Center, which is located on the lower level of the Williams Building.
The CEO Conversations series is designed to give audiences an opportunity to hear from and talk with key individuals in the local, regional, and national business communities about business, entrepreneurship, and leadership. These talks are free of charge and open to the public.