Marking 100 years, NorthWestern has new CEO, makes plans for future power supply

When Brian Bird joined NorthWestern Corp. nearly 20 years ago, it was going through Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

“I thought I would help get them out of bankruptcy and go back to either Minneapolis or Chicago where I worked previously,” said Bird, who relocated to become the company’s chief financial officer.

Instead, he’s now NorthWestern’s CEO, a role he took on at the beginning of the year following the retirement of Bob Rowe.

In between is a company “that did a masterful job of configuring,” said Dana Dykhouse, CEO of First Premier Bank, who has served on the NorthWestern board of directors since 2009.