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Shirley Welte named vice president of Iowa Operations
shirley welte new VP for Grimes

GRIMES, Ia. – Aug. 22, 2019 – Black Hills Corp. (NYSE: BKH) today announced the appointment of Shirley Welte to vice president for Black Hills Energy in Iowa. In her new role, Welte is responsible for all aspects of managing operations for Black Hills Energy in Iowa. Black Hills Energy serves 158,500 customers in 133 Iowa communities including Grimes, Council Bluffs, Decorah, Dubuque, Manchester, Newton, Spencer and Webster City.

“Shirley’s new role will leverage her operational experience, industry knowledge and customer focus to live our mission of improving life with energy in the communities we serve, and ensure we are ready to provide our Iowa customers with the valued service they’ve come to expect from Black Hills Energy,” said Todd Jacobs, vice president of natural gas utilities, Black Hills Corp.

“Shirley’s new role will leverage her operational experience, industry knowledge and customer focus to live our mission of improving life with energy in the communities we serve, and ensure we are ready to provide our Iowa customers with the valued service they’ve come to expect from Black Hills Energy,” said Todd Jacobs, vice president of natural gas utilities, Black Hills Corp.

Welte, who will be based in Grimes, joins the Iowa team from Wyoming where she served as Vice President of Operations for Black Hills Energy’s electric and natural gas utility in Wyoming. Welte replaces vice president, Wes Ashton, who will be relocating to Fayetteville, Arkansas after being named vice president for Black Hills Energy’s Arkansas natural gas utilities.

Shirley Welte joined Black Hills Energy in 2012 as an operations supervisor based in Manchester, Iowa and has held other leadership roles prior to her new vice president role.  She holds a bachelor’s degree in Communications and a master’s degree in Organizational Behavior.