Duke Energy/Indiana President Melody Birmingham-Byrd
Duke Energy has a new Indiana leader to serve its more than 810,000 Hoosier customers. And she happens to be a Sistah! Melody Birmingham-Byrd has been named President of Duke’s Indiana operations. She began her new duties June 1st. Melody Birmingham-Byrd is the second African-American to head an electric utility in Indiana, especially the state’s largest. But she’s following in the footsteps of Vicki Bailey, the first African-American to head an Indiana utility company, who was named President of Public Service Indiana in 1993. Duke Energy later assumed ownership of the Indiana utility in 2006. Melody Birmingham-Byrd for the past three years worked at Duke Energy Indiana’s Plainfield headquarters serving as Senior Vice President of Midwest Delivery Operations. In this position she managed the operations of the company’s electric distribution system in Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky, including construction, maintenance, operations, engineering, and resource and project management. Before that she was Vice President of the Southern Region for Progress Energy in the Carolinas, which was purchased by Duke in 2012. Duke Energy Indiana’s new President says one of her first tasks will be meeting with customers and community leaders statewide. “Doing what’s best for our customers and communities is a priority for me. I have the advantage of relying on more than 2,500 dedicated Indiana-based employees to help get that done,” Birmingham-Byrd said. Melody Birmingham-Byrd has Indiana ties as she earned a Purdue University Bachelor’s Degree in organizational leadership and management. She also has an MBA from Strayer University. Birmingham-Byrd is a board member of the Indiana Energy Association and the Indiana Manufacturers Association as well as other national industry and trade organizations related to the electric industry.
