Our History

The Roots of WiNUP

The Women's International Network of Utility Professionals was formed in January 1999 but its roots go much deeper.  The organization evolved from The Electrical Women's Round Table, Inc., a group with a long history of providing growth and development to those in the electric industry and allied fields.

EWRT was founded in 1923 when seven women from New York attended the annual meeting of the Society for Electrical Development on Henderson Island in Lake Ontario.  This had always been an all-male event but at this time the women gathered around a round table and discovered common problems among them.  They began meeting once a month back in New York, inviting other women to attend.  By 1925 the group had grown to 50 women.  They decided to organize.  In 1927 the Electrical Women's Round Table filed for and received a Certificate of Incorporation from the Secretary of State of New York.

In 1948 EWRT went national with New York as the parent chapter.  Fifty years later, as the electric industry evolved, EWRT's board recognized the organization's need to evolve, as well, EWRT began plans to expand its membership base into all facets of the utility industry and its allied fields.  It adopted a new name - Women's International Network of Utility Professions - to better reflect its new mission.  In addition to New York, there are eleven additional WiNUP chapters:  South Texas, North Texas, Indiana, Ohio, Nashville, East Tennessee, Bluegrass (KY), Missouri, North Central-Minnesota, Oklahoma, and West Virginia.  Members with no local chapter affiliation are designated Members-at-Large.

Our membership includes professionals in a wide array of industries.  Members come from such diverse industries as utilities, universities, marketing companies, law firms, and everything in between.  That diversity is what keeps meetings relevant and interesting to all who attend.

The International office is located in the Fergus Falls, Minnesota area.