PORTLAND, Ore.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mar 3, 2025--
The Board of Directors of NW Natural Holdings and NW Natural elected Justin B. Palfreyman to the position of President and Chief Executive Officer of Northwest Natural Holdings and Chief Executive Officer of NW Natural, effective April 1, 2025. Palfreyman will succeed David H. Anderson, who is retiring.
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“I am honored to have the opportunity to lead this great company,” Palfreyman said. “Our employees, customers and communities have benefited greatly from David’s tremendous leadership since 2016, and I am excited to build off of what he and the team accomplished during his tenure. We are in a strong strategic and financial position, and I am eager to lead NW Natural into its next chapter, marked by growth across our four businesses and a continued focus on our culture of customer service and safety.”
Malia H. Wasson, chair of NW Natural Holdings’ Board, praised both Palfreyman and Anderson: “Justin has proven that he has the right skills and leadership capacity to succeed as CEO. His many strengths have been evident throughout his time here, beginning with his roles in strategy and business development, as president of NW Natural Water, and especially during his last two years as president of NW Natural Holdings. The Board is very excited to support Justin as he moves into his new role.”
Wasson continued, "It would be difficult to overstate David’s impact on the company. He built the platform for our water and renewables businesses, expanded our gas utility operations into Texas, and set the vision for decarbonizing while continuing to grow the company. He did all of this despite a number of challenges and without ever wavering in his commitment to the company’s core values. David is leaving the company in both great shape and good hands.”
Anderson became NW Natural Holdings’ CEO in August of 2016 after serving as president and chief operating officer (COO). He came to the company in 2004, and his tenure has included service as executive vice president and senior vice president and chief financial officer.
“I am grateful for the privilege I’ve had to lead NW Natural Holdings and the talented, committed people who work here. It is very important to our board and to me that we position the company for future success, and I believe that we have done that with the election of Justin to succeed me. His strong industry experience, strategic mindset, and excellent leadership skills will serve him and the company well. He will be a terrific CEO; our people—my incredible NW Natural colleagues—deserve nothing less.”
Palfreyman joined the company in 2016 and since then has served in various executive roles over business development, strategy, and president of NW Natural Water. In May 2023, he was promoted to NW Natural Holdings’ and NW Natural’s president. Prior to joining the company, Palfreyman served in various roles in investment banking covering the power, energy and infrastructure sector. He graduated from Pacific Lutheran University with a Bachelor of Business Administration, holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, and holds a Master of Public Policy (MPP) from The University of Chicago Irving B. Harris School of Public Policy.
About NW Natural Holdings
Northwest Natural Holding Company (NYSE: NWN) (NW Natural Holdings) is headquartered in Portland, Oregon and has been doing business for over 165 years. It owns Northwest Natural Gas Company (NW Natural), SiEnergy Operating (SiEnergy), NW Natural Water Company (NW Natural Water), NW Natural Renewables Holdings (NW Natural Renewables), and other business interests.
NW Natural Holdings provides critical energy and delivers essential water and wastewater services to nearly one million customers across seven states. We have a longstanding commitment to safety, environmental stewardship, and the energy transition, and taking care of our employees and communities. NW Natural Holdings was recognized by Ethisphere® for three years running as one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies®. NW Natural consistently leads the industry with high J.D. Power & Associates customer satisfaction scores. Learn more in our latest Community and Sustainability Report at ir.nwnaturalholdings.com/sustainability.
NW Natural is a local distribution company that currently provides natural gas service to approximately 2 million people in more than 140 communities through approximately 806,000 meters in Oregon and Southwest Washington with one of the most modern pipeline systems in the nation. NW Natural owns and operates 21.6 Bcf of underground gas storage capacity in Oregon.
SiEnergy is one of the fastest growing natural gas distribution utilities in the nation, serving approximately 70,000 customers in the greater metropolitan areas of Houston, Dallas, and Austin, Texas.
NW Natural Water provides water distribution and wastewater services to communities throughout the Pacific Northwest, Texas, Arizona, and California. Today NW Natural Water serves an estimated 190,000 people through approximately 76,000 meters and provides operation and maintenance services to an additional 25,000 connections. Learn more about our water business at nwnaturalwater.com.
NW Natural Renewables is committed to leading in the energy transition by providing renewable fuels. Learn more at nwnaturalrenewables.com.
Additional information is available at nwnaturalholdings.com.
“World’s Most Ethical Companies” and “Ethisphere” names and marks are registered trademarks of Ethisphere LLC
The Board of Directors of NW Natural Holdings and NW Natural elected Justin B. Palfreyman to the position of President and Chief Executive Officer of Northwest Natural Holdings and Chief Executive Officer of NW Natural, effective April 1, 2025. (Photo: Business Wire)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Becky Pepper-Jackson finished third in the discus throw in West Virginia last year though she was in just her first year of high school. Now a 15-year-old sophomore, Pepper-Jackson is aware that her upcoming season could be her last.
West Virginia has banned transgender girls like Pepper-Jackson from competing in girls and women's sports, and is among the more than two dozen states with similar laws. Though the West Virginia law has been blocked by lower courts, the outcome could be different at the conservative-dominated Supreme Court, which has allowed multiple restrictions on transgender people to be enforced in the past year.
The justices are hearing arguments Tuesday in two cases over whether the sports bans violate the Constitution or the landmark federal law known as Title IX that prohibits sex discrimination in education. The second case comes from Idaho, where college student Lindsay Hecox challenged that state's law.
Decisions are expected by early summer.
President Donald Trump's Republican administration has targeted transgender Americans from the first day of his second term, including ousting transgender people from the military and declaring that gender is immutable and determined at birth.
Pepper-Jackson has become the face of the nationwide battle over the participation of transgender girls in athletics that has played out at both the state and federal levels as Republicans have leveraged the issue as a fight for athletic fairness for women and girls.
“I think it’s something that needs to be done,” Pepper-Jackson said in an interview with The Associated Press that was conducted over Zoom. “It’s something I’m here to do because ... this is important to me. I know it’s important to other people. So, like, I’m here for it.”
She sat alongside her mother, Heather Jackson, on a sofa in their home just outside Bridgeport, a rural West Virginia community about 40 miles southwest of Morgantown, to talk about a legal fight that began when she was a middle schooler who finished near the back of the pack in cross-country races.
Pepper-Jackson has grown into a competitive discus and shot put thrower. In addition to the bronze medal in the discus, she finished eighth among shot putters.
She attributes her success to hard work, practicing at school and in her backyard, and lifting weights. Pepper-Jackson has been taking puberty-blocking medication and has publicly identified as a girl since she was in the third grade, though the Supreme Court's decision in June upholding state bans on gender-affirming medical treatment for minors has forced her to go out of state for care.
Her very improvement as an athlete has been cited as a reason she should not be allowed to compete against girls.
“There are immutable physical and biological characteristic differences between men and women that make men bigger, stronger, and faster than women. And if we allow biological males to play sports against biological females, those differences will erode the ability and the places for women in these sports which we have fought so hard for over the last 50 years,” West Virginia's attorney general, JB McCuskey, said in an AP interview. McCuskey said he is not aware of any other transgender athlete in the state who has competed or is trying to compete in girls or women’s sports.
Despite the small numbers of transgender athletes, the issue has taken on outsize importance. The NCAA and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committees banned transgender women from women's sports after Trump signed an executive order aimed at barring their participation.
The public generally is supportive of the limits. An Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll conducted in October 2025 found that about 6 in 10 U.S. adults “strongly” or “somewhat” favored requiring transgender children and teenagers to only compete on sports teams that match the sex they were assigned at birth, not the gender they identify with, while about 2 in 10 were “strongly” or “somewhat” opposed and about one-quarter did not have an opinion.
About 2.1 million adults, or 0.8%, and 724,000 people age 13 to 17, or 3.3%, identify as transgender in the U.S., according to the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law.
Those allied with the administration on the issue paint it in broader terms than just sports, pointing to state laws, Trump administration policies and court rulings against transgender people.
"I think there are cultural, political, legal headwinds all supporting this notion that it’s just a lie that a man can be a woman," said John Bursch, a lawyer with the conservative Christian law firm Alliance Defending Freedom that has led the legal campaign against transgender people. “And if we want a society that respects women and girls, then we need to come to terms with that truth. And the sooner that we do that, the better it will be for women everywhere, whether that be in high school sports teams, high school locker rooms and showers, abused women’s shelters, women’s prisons.”
But Heather Jackson offered different terms to describe the effort to keep her daughter off West Virginia's playing fields.
“Hatred. It’s nothing but hatred,” she said. "This community is the community du jour. We have a long history of isolating marginalized parts of the community.”
Pepper-Jackson has seen some of the uglier side of the debate on display, including when a competitor wore a T-shirt at the championship meet that said, “Men Don't Belong in Women's Sports.”
“I wish these people would educate themselves. Just so they would know that I’m just there to have a good time. That’s it. But it just, it hurts sometimes, like, it gets to me sometimes, but I try to brush it off,” she said.
One schoolmate, identified as A.C. in court papers, said Pepper-Jackson has herself used graphic language in sexually bullying her teammates.
Asked whether she said any of what is alleged, Pepper-Jackson said, “I did not. And the school ruled that there was no evidence to prove that it was true.”
The legal fight will turn on whether the Constitution's equal protection clause or the Title IX anti-discrimination law protects transgender people.
The court ruled in 2020 that workplace discrimination against transgender people is sex discrimination, but refused to extend the logic of that decision to the case over health care for transgender minors.
The court has been deluged by dueling legal briefs from Republican- and Democratic-led states, members of Congress, athletes, doctors, scientists and scholars.
The outcome also could influence separate legal efforts seeking to bar transgender athletes in states that have continued to allow them to compete.
If Pepper-Jackson is forced to stop competing, she said she will still be able to lift weights and continue playing trumpet in the school concert and jazz bands.
“It will hurt a lot, and I know it will, but that’s what I’ll have to do,” she said.
Heather Jackson, left, and Becky Pepper-Jackson pose for a photograph outside of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Heather Jackson, left, and Becky Pepper-Jackson pose for a photograph outside of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Becky Pepper-Jackson poses for a photograph outside of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
The Supreme Court stands is Washington, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
FILE - Protestors hold signs during a rally at the state capitol in Charleston, W.Va., on March 9, 2023. (AP Photo/Chris Jackson, file)
