Diane Black Honored with AMP DNA Award

Annual award recognizes outstanding employee

COLUMBUS, OH: Diane Black has been recognized as the American Municipal Power, Inc. (AMP) 2025 DNA Award recipient. Black is a Project Administrative Assistant and has been with AMP since 2005.

The annual award, sponsored by AMP’s President and CEO, was initiated in 2008 to recognize an employee who advances AMP’s vision and mission — “to be public power’s trusted leader in providing Members and their customers the highest-quality, forward-looking services and solutions,” and “to serve Members through public power joint action, innovative solutions, robust advocacy and cost-effective management of power supply and energy services.”

“Diane’s strong work ethic, positive personality and institutional knowledge from having worked in multiple departments over 19 years has a positive effect on her ability to collaborate with colleagues and work cross-departmentally,” said Jolene Thompson, AMP President and CEO. “She is always willing to provide assistance to others and is willing to take on responsibilities that go beyond the scope of her job description, and her work impacts a variety of daily operations at AMP in a positive way.”

Nominations for the award are submitted by staff in recognition of their fellow employees and include not just the name of their peer, but the reasons why their nominee should receive the award. Thompson announced Black as the 2025 recipient during an all-staff meeting.

During the awards presentation, Thompson noted that the nominations from Black’s colleagues show that she exemplifies the organization’s core values on a daily basis. Her coworkers emphasized that she has a strong work ethic and is someone they can depend on to complete work carefully and accurately, often working on short deadlines; is willing to collaborate with colleagues and stakeholders and assists the Member/Marketing Services team in taking care of Member needs.

Black joined AMP full time in 2005 as a Human Resources Assistant and was named to her current role in August 2022. She previously served as Administrative Assistant/Receptionist in Generation Operations and HR. Prior to joining AMP, she worked for White Electronic Design for 17 years. Black holds an Associate of Arts and Sciences from Columbus State Community College, a degree she earned while taking classes nights and weekends while working full time at AMP.

To accomplish its vision and mission, AMP employees must believe in, and demonstrate, the core values of the organization: integrity, member focus, partnership, employee engagement, stewardship, innovation and accountability. These values serve as the organization’s “DNA” and are a critical foundation to its ability to succeed and serve Member communities. The AMP DNA Award recognizes employees who best demonstrate the values/DNA of AMP as a way to highlight both its staff and Members the importance of the key organizational criteria it strives to meet.