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About NGT&S

• Quick Facts
• Leadership Team
• Community Relations
• Infrastructure Investment
  • Appalachian Expansion Project
  • Artemas Seismic Surveys
  • Columbia Gulf Transmission
  • Columbia Penn Corridor
  • Eastern Market Expansion
  • Line 1278/Line K Proposed Replacement Project
  • Line 1570/Marcellus Shale Region
  • Majorsville Compressor/MarkWest Processing expansion
  • Ohio Storage Expansion Project
• Central Kentucky Transmission
• Columbia Gas Transmission LLC
• Columbia Gulf Transmission
• Crossroads Pipeline
• Hardy Storage Company
• Millennium Pipeline

Leadership Team

Christopher A. Helms
Claire A. Burum
Victor M. Gaglio
Colin Harper
Richard Keyser
Brian Adams
Jim Downs
Stacy Franz
Roger Given
Tommy Kilpatrick
John McNamara
Mark Morris
Shi-Lin Yeh

Christopher A. Helms

As Executive Vice President of NiSource and CEO of the NiSource Gas Transmission & Storage group, Chris Helms is responsible for executing an aggressive growth strategy. Prior to joining the NiSource companies in 2005, he held a variety of leadership roles in the energy sector, including president and chief executive officer of CMS Panhandle Companies, president of Centennial Pipeline Company LLC, and executive vice president of CMS Gas Transmission Corp.

Helms was the 2008 Chairman of the Southern Gas Association during its Centennial Celebration Year and also has served as vice president of the Groupe International des Importateurs de Gaz Naturel Liquefie.  He currently serves as a director of the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America (INGAA) and is a member of INGAA’s Executive Committee.  He is a member of the state bar associations of Texas, Louisiana and Florida, and is a past member of the College of the State Bar of Texas (1993).

Helms earned bachelor’s degrees in Political Science and Journalism from Southern Illinois University and a Juris Doctor degree from Tulane University School of Law.

Claire A. Burum

Senior Vice President of Regulatory Affairs and Business Development

Claire Burum is Senior Vice President of Business Development for NiSource Gas Transmission & Storage.  She is responsible for leading the Business Development efforts as the companies pursue the deployment of significant growth capital in various pipeline and storage expansion projects.

Prior to this appointment, Burum served as Senior Vice President of Regulatory Affairs for NGT&S, where she was responsible for managing regulatory matters before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and public affairs.

Burum has been involved in the natural gas pipeline sector since 1987. Prior to joining NiSource Gas Transmission & Storage in 2006, she held various key leadership roles at Gulf South Pipeline.  Her broad range of industry experiences includes rate and regulatory, marketing, information technology and strategic analysis.

Burum earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from the University of Houston.

Victor M. Gaglio

Victor Gaglio serves as Senior Vice President of Operations for NiSource Gas Transmission & Storage. In this role, he oversees day-to-day operations of more than 15,000 miles of pipeline, 1 million horsepower of compression and 37 underground storage fields for NGT&S companies.

Gaglio began his career as a compressor engineer in 1981. In his years of service he has held various positions at Columbia Transmission, including area superintendent, area manager, and manager of Gas Control before being named vice president in 1999.

Gaglio earned a Bachelor of Science in Engineering Science and Mechanics from Virginia Tech.

Colin Harper

Senior Vice President Commercial Operations

Colin Harper is Senior Vice President of Commercial Operations for NiSource Gas Transmission & Storage (NGT&S).   He is responsible for all the commercial activities including marketing and origination, supply, optimization & logistics, gas control, fuel strategies, measurement and customer services.   Prior to assuming this position, Harper served as Senior Vice President of Business Development for NGT&S.

Harper has been involved in delivering growth projects in the gas and electric industries for more than 25 years.   Prior to joining NGT&S in 2008, he served in various leadership roles with Transco Energy Company, Cogen Technologies and SUEZ Energy (formerly Tractebel Energy).

Harper has served as an At-Large Board Member of the Natural Gas Supply Association and is a past member of the Southern Gas Association and the National Energy Supply Association.

Harper earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Southwestern Louisiana.

Richard Keyser

Dick Keyser is Senior Vice President of Engineering at NiSource Gas Transmission & Storage.  In more than 30 years of experience in the interstate natural gas transmission industry, Keyser has been responsible for project management, project design, planning, construction management, contract negotiations and daily operations of large onshore and offshore pipeline companies.  He is now primarily responsible for growth projects.

Prior to joining NGT&S in 2008, Keyser served as Senior Vice President of Operations for Cheniere Energy, where he was responsible for assembling and developing an operating organization in Southwest Louisiana.  He has gained extensive experience in the development and execution of FERC 7c expansion projects for the Panhandle, Trunkline and Texas Eastern pipeline systems.

Keyser has served on the Executive Committee and Board of Directors of the Pipeline Research Council and as a member of the Southern Gas Association and Southern Gas Association Operating Executives & Planning Group.

Keyser is a graduate of the University of Kansas with a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering.  He also completed the University of Tennessee’s Executive Development program.

Brian Adams

Brian Adams is Vice President of Business Development for NiSource Gas Transmission & Storage.  In that position, he is responsible for managing the partnership interests in both Hardy Storage Company and Millennium Pipeline Company.  He is also charged with continuing to grow the NGT&S portfolio.

Adams has spent his professional career in the energy industry.  He started in gas distribution in 1984 at the Commonwealth Gas Companies in Richmond, Virginia, now Columbia Gas of Virginia.  He moved to the interstate pipeline side of the business in 1989 when he joined Columbia Gas Transmission as a Senior Account Manager in Marketing. Adams has held a variety of Marketing posts throughout his career at ‘TCO,’ including Marketing Manager, Volumetric Management Services Manager, Price Desk Manager and Vice President of Marketing.

Adams earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

Jim Downs

Vice President of Rates and Regulatory Affairs

Jim Downs is Vice President of Rates and Regulatory Affairs for NiSource Gas Transmission & Storage (NGT&S).  Downs joined NiSource in 2006 and brings almost 18 years of energy industry experience to this position.

Prior to his appointment, Downs served as Director of Regulatory Affairs at both NiSource and at Calpine Corporation, an independent power producer.

Downs holds a Bachelors of Business Administration Degree in Accounting from Stephen F. Austin State University.

Stacy Franz

Stacy Franz joined NiSource Gas Transmission & Storage in 2008 as Vice President of Optimization and Logistics.  In this role, she is responsible for the daily and near-term optimization of the organization’s transportation and storage assets.

Franz has worked in the natural gas industry for more than 20 years, serving in leadership roles in accounting, trading and marketing with Natural Gas Clearinghouse, Koch, Entergy-Koch and Gulf South.  She most recently served as Senior Vice President for Boardwalk Pipeline.

A CPA in the state of Texas, Franz graduated from Sam Houston State University with a bachelor’s degree in Accounting.

Roger Given

Roger Given is Vice President of Transmission and Storage Operations for Columbia Gas Transmission, Crossroads Pipeline, Hardy Storage and Millennium Pipeline.

As such, he oversees the day-to-day operations and maintenance of more than 12,000 miles of interstate natural gas pipeline, 37 underground storage fields and approximately half a million horsepower of compression.

Prior to joining NGT&S, Given worked for the Federal Communications Commission, where he held positions in engineering and served as Assistant Chief of the Land Mobile Radio Branch.  He began his career with the NiSource Gas Transmission & Storage companies in 1987 as supervisor of Columbia Gas Transmission’s Kanawha Separation Plant.  He has held positions of Corrosion Engineer, Automation and Electrical Engineer, Automation and Electrical Superintendent, Asset Manager.

Given earned an Electrical Engineering degree from West Virginia Institute of Technology.

Tommy Kilpatrick

As Vice-President of Operations for Columbia Gulf Transmission, Tommy Kilpatrick is responsible for the safe, reliable operations of a 3,400-mile pipeline system that is capable of transporting approximately 2.2 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day.

Additionally, he works closely with the Commercial and Engineering organizations within NiSource Gas Transmission & Storage to secure and efficiently deploy growth opportunities.

Kilpatrick is a veteran of the natural gas industry with a diverse technical background in the transportation and measurement of natural gas.  He has served in various leadership and management capacities since first joining Columbia Gulf in 1973, including construction, measurement, technical services, and operations.

Kilpatrick attended Mississippi Delta Junior College and participated in numerous management and leadership development programs with the NGT&S companies.

John McNamara

John McNamara is Vice President of Marketing and Origination for NiSource Gas Transmission & Storage.  In this role, he is responsible for the management and execution of the pipeline segment’s growth strategy. This includes revenue generation through the management of customer relationships, the origination of new opportunities and the development of growth projects.

McNamara joined Columbia Gas Transmission in 1998 and has spent his entire career with the NiSource companies.  He has worked primarily in marketing and business development, serving in a number of different roles in market and competitive analysis, account management and project development.  He has experience on all four of the major interstate pipelines that NiSource operates.

McNamara earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in History and Political Science from Rice University and an MBA from the University of Maryland.

Mark Morris

Mark Morris is Vice President of Supply and Origination for NiSource Gas Transmission & Storage.  During his career at NiSource that began in 2007, Morris has formed the Supply and Origination group, completed the sale of various assets, created business development guidelines and executed projects resulting in long-term sustainable growth.

With more than 28 years of experience in the energy industry, Morris has held a broad range of managerial positions with Conoco, Williams, Panhandle/Trunkline and NiSource. He has worked both in the U.S. and internationally in petroleum products and crude oil supply and trading, energy marketing, electricity trading and marketing, strategic planning, LNG commercial services and natural gas supply development.

Morris holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics and a Master of Science degree in Industrial Engineering, both from Montana State University.

Shi-Lin Yeh

Shi-Lin Yeh, a 35-year member of the NiSource team, is Vice President of Engineering for NiSource Gas Transmission & Storage.  His responsibilities include overall maintenance and compliance of NiSource’s interstate pipeline system.  His team is also responsible for the effective deployment of growth capital dollars for system expansion projects.

Since first joining Columbia Gulf Transmission in 1974, Yeh has served in various project manager and engineering positions, as well as facility planning/marketing positions. He has been responsible for engineering technical services overseeing project designs and has served as engineering department head.  Yeh has worked on and with construction, drafting, technical services, codes and standards, corrosion and turbine operation.  He has also been responsible for operating budgets and has negotiated construction and operating, partnership, transportation and co-ownership agreements for co-owned facilities.

A native of Taiwan, Yeh earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Cheng-Kung University and a master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Louisiana Tech University.  He holds a Professional Engineer license in Texas.