December 29, 2022

NW Natural

Jon Huddleston, vice president of engineering and utility operations at NW Natural announced his retirement after 32 years at the company. Huddleston began his career at NW Natural journey as a design engineer and over the years has led engineering, technical training, business systems support, business analytics, technology implementation and federal pipeline safety compliance for the company. In his most recent role, he oversaw transmission and distribution construction, gas operations and maintenance, storage and plant operations, and gas control. In his career at NW Natural, Huddleston played a part in a multi-year initiative to standardize operations across company locations, essentially redesigning how NW Natural operated. He also worked with the Western Regional Operations Group in designing a peer-reviewed employee safety program that was soon employed nationally by the American Gas Association and is still used today. Huddleston will officially depart next spring, and the NW Natural Board of Directors has named Joe Karney to the position of vice president of engineering and utility operations, effective April 1, 2023. Karney started his career with Colonial Pipeline in Georgia, and then joined NW Natural as an integrity engineer. He has held positions in integrity management, construction operations, code compliance, and engineering and is currently senior director of utility operations. NW Natural is a local distribution company that provides natural gas service to approximately 2.5 million people in Oregon and Southwest Washington.