GridLiance Senior Vice President N. Beth Emery has been named a winner of a Silver Stevie® Award in the Lifetime Achievement – Business category in the 17th annual Stevie Awards® for Women in Business. A founding member of GridLiance, an independent electric transmission company, Emery has practiced law in the energy industry for more than 40 years.

The Stevie Awards for Women in Business honor women executives, entrepreneurs, employees, and the companies they run– worldwide. The Stevie Awards have been hailed as the world's premier business awards.

In recognizing Emery's achievements, the Individual Entrepreneur and Executive Awards Judging Committee described her as a "trailblazer for women in a male-dominated field and a force for transparency and competition in energy markets." They noted that Emery is an example of how "a woman can empower many other women." The judges also cited her charitable work with the National Breast Cancer Coalition.

"I am honored to be among the many accomplished women who were recognized this year as Stevie Award winners and thrilled to be chosen for my work in the energy industry and at GridLiance," said Emery. "When we started GridLiance over six years ago, our vision was to provide transmission service to the underserved markets in rural communities to improve their quality of life. This Stevie Award reflects the importance of that mission and I share this award with my colleagues at GridLiance as well as the many women who have inspired me throughout my career."

Emery served as GridLiance's first general counsel and secretary before announcing in September that she would retire at year end. She currently serves as GridLiance's special counsel. Prior to her work at GridLiance, Emery was a national law firm partner for almost two decades. Earlier in her career, Emery served as the first general counsel for the California Independent System Operator Corporation and as the first in-house general counsel for CPS Energy, the nation's largest municipally-owned electric and gas utility at the time. She earned a Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School.

"We're extremely proud of Beth's achievements in the industry and her role in the success of GridLiance," said GridLiance President and CEO Calvin Crowder.

Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie Award winners were determined by the average scores of more than 180 business professionals around the world, working on seven juries.

About GridLiance

GridLiance is an independent electric transmission utility holding company. GridLiance collaborates with rural electric cooperatives, municipal utilities, joint action agencies and others to plan for the future of the grid, invest in necessary electric infrastructure and implement strategies to improve system reliability and resiliency and reduce overall costs to customers. Based in Dallas, GridLiance operates more than 700 miles of transmission lines and related substation facilities in Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Nevada and Oklahoma. GridLiance is a portfolio company of Blackstone Energy Partners, an affiliate of Blackstone (NYSE: BX), a leading energy infrastructure investor. For more information about GridLiance, visit gridliance.com.

About the Stevie Awards Stevie Awards are conferred in eight programs: the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, the German Stevie Awards, the Middle East & North Africa Stevie Awards The American Business Awards®, The International Business Awards®, the Stevie Awards for Great Employers, the Stevie Awards for Women in Business, and the the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. Stevie Awards competitions receive more than 12,000 entries each year from organizations in more than 70 nations. Honoring organizations of all types and sizes and the people behind them, the Stevies recognize outstanding performances in the workplace worldwide. Learn more about the Stevie Awards at http://www.StevieAwards.com.