MERRILLVILLE, Ind., March 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- NiSource Inc. (NYSE: NI) has been recognized by the Ethisphere Institute, a global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices, as a 2017 World's Most Ethical Company(®).

NiSource has been recognized for six consecutive years, underscoring its commitment to leading ethical business standards and practices, and is one of only six in this year's gas utility category.

"The designation as one of the World's Most Ethical companies supports our stakeholder commitments and is influenced by each employee action and the systems and processes we have in place," said NiSource President and Chief Executive Officer Joseph Hamrock. "Our commitment to doing the right thing crosses every aspect of our day-to-day business interactions - ensuring we serve our customers with fairness, honesty, integrity and trust day in and day out."

This is the eleventh year that Ethisphere has honored those companies who recognize their role in society to influence and drive positive change, consider the impact of their actions on their employees, investors, customers and other key stakeholders and use their values and culture as an underpinning to the decisions they make every day.

"Over the last eleven years we have seen the shift in societal expectations, constant redefinition of laws and regulations and the geo-political climate. We have also seen how companies honored as the World's Most Ethical respond to these challenges. They invest in their local communities around the world, embrace strategies of diversity and inclusion, and focus on long term-ism as a sustainable business advantage," explained Ethisphere's Chief Executive Officer, Timothy Erblich. "Congratulations to everyone at NiSource for being recognized as a World's Most Ethical Company."

The NiSource Code of Business Conduct is the foundation of the NiSource Ethics and Compliance Program. It is designed to provide guidance on how to apply the company's core values and principles to maintain high standards of business conduct. NiSource's Code of Business Conduct is available at nisource.com/ethics.

Methodology & Scoring
The World's Most Ethical Company assessment is based upon the Ethisphere Institute's Ethics Quotient(®) (EQ) framework which offers a quantitative way to assess a company's performance in an objective, consistent and standardized way. The information collected provides a comprehensive sampling of definitive criteria of core competencies, rather than all aspects of corporate governance, risk, sustainability, compliance and ethics.

Scores are generated in five key categories: ethics and compliance program (35%), corporate citizenship and responsibility (20%), culture of ethics (20%), governance (15%) and leadership, innovation and reputation (10%) and provided to all companies who participate in the process.

­­The full list of the 2017 World's Most Ethical Companies can be found at http://worldsmostethicalcompanies.ethisphere.com/honorees/.

About NiSource
NiSource Inc. (NYSE: NI) is one of the largest fully-regulated utility companies in the United States, serving approximately 3.5 million natural gas customers and 500,000 electric customers across seven states through its local Columbia Gas and NIPSCO brands. Based in Merrillville, Indiana, NiSource's approximately 8,000 employees are focused on safely delivering reliable and affordable energy to our customers and communities we serve. NiSource has been designated a World's Most Ethical Company by the Ethisphere Institute since 2012 and is a member of the Dow Jones Sustainability - North America Index. Additional information about NiSource, its investments in modern infrastructure and systems, its commitments and its local brands can be found at www.nisource.com. Follow us at www.facebook.com/nisource, www.linkedin.com/company/nisource or www.twitter.com/nisourceinc. NI-F

About the Ethisphere Institute
The Ethisphere(®) Institute is the global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices that fuel corporate character, marketplace trust and business success. Ethisphere has deep expertise in measuring and defining core ethics standards using data-driven insights that help companies enhance corporate character. Ethisphere honors superior achievement through its World's Most Ethical Companies recognition program, provides a community of industry experts with the Business Ethics Leadership Alliance (BELA) and showcases trends and best practices in ethics with the publication of Ethisphere Magazine. More information about Ethisphere can be found at: http://ethisphere.com.

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SOURCE NiSource Inc.