Integrys VP Ford to receive UW-Green Bay community award
Diane L. Ford
Ford will accept the award from Chancellor Thomas Harden during spring 2011 commencement at the Kress Events Center at 11:30 a.m. this Saturday, May 14.
Ford is a 1975 graduate of UW-Green Bay who earned her bachelor’s degree in Managerial Accounting. She has been recognized as an outstanding alumna of both UW-Green Bay (receiving the Distinguished Alumni Award in 2003) and of UW-Oshkosh, where she completed her MBA and won outstanding business alumna honors in 1999.
Ford is vice president and controller of Integrys Energy Group (formerly WPS Resources), a publically traded Fortune 500 corporation and one of the nation’s leading electric and natural gas utility companies. Integrys subsidiaries serve the United States and Canada including Chicago, Wisconsin, Michigan and Minnesota. The company has more than 1.5 million residential, commercial and industrial customer accounts, with annual revenue of approximately $7 billion. Her staff is responsible for all accounting and tax work for Integrys, including establishing policy, compliance, budget coordination, oversight of external audits and financial reporting.
Her 35-year career began when, upon graduation, she was hired by Wisconsin Public Service, the public utility in her hometown of Green Bay. She moved up through the ranks and became controller in 1992 and added the titles of chief accounting officer and vice president in 1999.
Ford is the recipient of several awards for community service and involvement. She was a key player in the establishment of the Women’s Fund of Greater Green Bay, and has been active with the Green Bay area YWCA, the Neville Public Museum, Lac Baie Girl Scout Council and Grace Lutheran Church, among others.
She donates significant time and energy to her alma mater, advising the University administration as a longtime member of the Chancellor’s Council of Trustees. When campus and community leaders moved last month to create the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay Foundation, Inc., Ford was at the forefront, as a founding member of the board of directors and the organization’s first treasurer.
She also chose the occasion to present the Foundation with its first donation, a generous gift to establish a new endowed scholarship fund for UW-Green Bay students.
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