Board of Alumni

Bob Rowe

Bob Rowe has been President and Chief Executive Officer of NorthWestern Corporation since August, 2008. NorthWestern Energy is one of the largest providers of electricity and natural gas in the Upper Midwest and Northwest, serving approximately 656,000 customers in Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska (www.northwestenergy.com).

Bob was formerly co-founder and Senior Partner at Balhoff, Rowe & Williams, LLC, a specialized national professional services firm providing financial and regulatory advice to clients in the energy and telecommunications industries.

He served as Chairman and Commissioner of the Montana Public Service Commission from 1993-2004, and also served as president of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC). He has testified frequently before Congress, served on national advisory boards (including the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service), and has consulted with and trained non-U.S. and U.S. energy and telecommunications regulators. He has worked with or served on boards at a variety of university-based institutes, including the Columbia University Institute for Tele-information. He is currently a Senior Fellow at the University of Florida Public Utility Research Center.

Bob received a BA from Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon (1977), a JD from the University of Oregon, completed the Kennedy School Senior Executives' Program, and is active in various legal and professional organizations. He is married to Melanie Reynolds and has two children. They reside in Helena Montana.