Doing What He Loves—and Not Done Yet
When he was attending the University of Pittsburgh in the early 1980s, Lloyd Yates (BSME ’82) knew that if he didn’t get a good education, his “life would be marginal.” What he didn’t know was how far his engineering degree would take him. “I never set out to be a president and CEO,” Yates said. “That was so far away—it was nothing I could aspire to. I just went in every day and loved what I did.”
Today, Yates is the president and CEO of NiSource Inc., an energy company that serves over four million customers. His journey from a working-class household outside of Philadelphia to the top of a leading energy company may have seemed improbable even to Yates himself, yet at every step he’s had amazing mentors, an endless drive to learn more—and his degree in mechanical engineering.
“If you can do that, you can do anything”
For Yates, mechanical engineering was a natural fit. As far back as he can remember, he was always fixing things. “I just had an inclination to take things apart and fix them—cars, lawnmowers, appliances,” he said. “I drove my father crazy, always using his tools.”
After graduating high school, Yates chose the University of Pittsburgh in part because he liked the atmosphere around Oakland and on the Pitt campus. “It felt inclusive,” he said.
During his first year in the engineering program, though, he struggled academically. “I probably didn’t have proper preparation. As a freshman, I had to work hard, but I got caught up and finished the year with a 3.9 GPA.”
Though money was tight, and Yates was never sure he could cover his next semester, it was an exciting and rewarding time. “Engineering is four hard years,” he remembered. “Those semesters, I didn’t get out much, but I did well academically and had fun.”
Beyond overcoming challenges such as linear algebra, he was learning a skill that would prove as vital today as it was then. “This was where I first learned to think critically,” Yates said. “And that matters so much in industry and in business.”
With his mechanical engineering degree, he felt more prepared for the MBA he would later earn at St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia. He felt equipped with key skills that would help him negotiate new responsibilities and unexpected challenges. As he said of his four years at Pitt, “If you can do that, you can do anything.”
Do what you love doing
After graduating, Yates took a job as a startup engineer at PECO (formerly Philadelphia Electric Company), a company where he interned during the summers of his third and fourth years at Pitt. He had other opportunities, but, as he said, “I took the lowest-paying offer I had, because I liked the work. I liked what I was doing.”
This principle—doing what he loves—has guided Yates since that first job, and it has been a key source to his success. He remembers those first days of his internship, when his classroom learning became suddenly tangible. “After I walked into a power plant and saw turbines and pumps and compressors, when I had to figure out how to put these million pounds of steam through that line, thermodynamics really started to mean something.”
For Yates, the work was and remains fascinating. “Energy was considered stodgy, boring,” he said. “But the energy sector is always evolving. I’m never bored.”
Like the field in which Yates has dedicated his career, his road to becoming president and CEO of NiSource, which has included senior positions at Duke Energy Corporation and Progress Energy, has also evolved dramatically. “I’ve had 19 jobs. I’ve kept growing, progressing, and getting more experience—trying new things and figuring them out.”
The power of persistence, people, and failure
If his love of the work and its dynamic nature have helped Yates reach seemingly improbable heights, so have his mentors along the way—starting with his father and his mother.
“At the time, I don’t think I realized the influence of my parents,” Yates said. “I inherited my father’s work ethic—his no-nonsense attitude. ‘That’s your job, go do it.’ And I inherited his impatience, which can be good.”
From his mother, he gained valuable interpersonal skills. “She was a people person,” Yates said. “She worked in a psychiatric hospital, and from her I learned that you treat people with respect and understanding.”
Throughout his career, as he has taken on more leadership roles and has managed more people, he’s seen more acutely how the influences of both his parents have shaped him as a leader. As Yates said, “People don’t follow you because you’re a good engineer but because you’re a good leader. If you want to manage and lead people, there are skills you need to develop.”
Yates also credits leaders in the energy field like John Doering and William “Bill” Johnson. These pivotal figures, as Yates said, “Let me fail. They gave me jobs and let me fail, but they kept pulling me up as long as I was learning from my failures.”
Changing the trajectory
Since graduating with his engineering degree, Yates has returned to Oakland and the campus that first drew him to Pittsburgh. In 2012, he was recognized as the Distinguished Alumnus in Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, and in 2022, he received the Swanson School of Engineering’s Distinguished Alumnus Award. On May 2 this year, he delivered the graduate commencement address for the Swanson School.
While honors like these may suggest someone approaching the end of their career, for Yates there’s still much more to do and learn. “I love what I’m doing,” he said. “I’m not done yet.” He still wakes up every morning ready to solve problems in an ever-changing energy sector and improve the lives of the people he serves.
“I’m grateful to have earned my engineering degree at Pitt,” Yates said. “It changed the trajectory of my life, and I still want to use it to change the trajectory of the communities where we operate and the people who work in our company.”