DULUTH, Minn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Susan K. Nestegard, a member of the board of directors for Hormel Foods, has been elected to the ALLETE Inc. (NYSE:ALE) board of directors.

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Susan K. Nestegard (Photo: Business Wire)

Together with nine years of service on the Hormel Foods board, Nestegard’s most recent industry career included serving as executive vice president and president of Global Healthcare, and chief technical officer and global head of research, development and engineering for Ecolab, Inc. Prior to joining Ecolab, Nestegard was with 3M company for 20 plus years driving revenue expansion through innovation in multiple technical and business leadership roles, while making significant contributions to growth through 26 patents in her name.

In addition, Nestegard served on the board of directors for American Capital Ltd. through 2017, when the company was acquired by Ares Capital. During that time, she also served as interim CEO of Alcami Ltd., one of American Capital’s holdings. She also is an advisor at True Wealth Ventures.

"Susan brings a wealth of experience in project management, product development and strategic thinking to the board. A big part of her career was focused on building successful teams, a good fit for ALLETE where people, culture and leadership differentiate us," said ALLETE Chairman, President and CEO Al Hodnik. "In addition, during her tenure with Ecolab, she gained valuable insights into the value of the energy-water nexus and will bring added depth to our Board in connection with ALLETE’s investment in and growth strategy for U.S. Water Services."

Nestegard’s election to the board reflects ALLETE’s longstanding commitment to having a diverse, best-practices governance board. Her appointment brings the board to 12 members.

"Susan’s election is part of the ALLETE board’s long-term succession planning,” ALLETE Lead Director Heidi Jimmerson said. “The board is excited to welcome Susan as she joins us at our next meeting. Her strong background in corporate governance and broad experience in leading successful product launches, growing business divisions and leading technological changes will bring significant value to ALLETE."

Nestegard earned a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a master’s degree in materials science engineering from the University of Minnesota. She completed executive education in strategic marketing at Harvard Business School and in finance at Columbia University.

Nestegard and her husband live in Austin, Texas. Throughout her career, Nestegard has been passionate about supporting women in reaching their full potential, particularly through science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education and careers.

She joins a diverse, experienced, best-practice governance board at ALLETE, which includes Hodnik, Lead Director Jimmerson (former executive vice president, secretary and general counsel at Florida East Coast Railway LLC) and directors Kathryn W. Dindo (retired vice president and chief risk officer for FirstEnergy Corp.), Sidney W. Emery Jr. (chief executive officer and owner of Supply Chain Services LLC), George G. Goldfarb (president and chief executive officer of Maurices Inc. and president and chief executive officer of the Value Fashion Segment of Ascena Retail Group Inc.), James S. Haines Jr. (former chief executive officer and director of Westar Energy Inc.), James J. Hoolihan (former chief executive officer and chair of the board of Industrial Lubricant Co.), Madeleine W. Ludlow (founder and chair of the board of West Capital Advisors LLC), Douglas C. Neve (former executive vice president and chief financial officer of Ceridian Corp.), Robert P. Powers (retired vice chairman of American Electric Power), and Leonard C. Rodman (retired chairman, president and chief executive officer of Black & Veatch).

ALLETE, Inc. is an energy company headquartered in Duluth, Minnesota. In addition to its electric utilities, Minnesota Power and Superior Water, Light and Power of Wisconsin, ALLETE owns ALLETE Clean Energy, based in Duluth, BNI Energy in Bismarck, North Dakota, U.S. Water Services in St. Michael, Minnesota, and has an eight percent equity interest in the American Transmission Co. More information about ALLETE is available at www.allete.com. ALE-CORP

The statements contained in this release and statements that ALLETE may make orally in connection with this release that are not historical facts, are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties and investors are directed to the risks discussed in documents filed by ALLETE with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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