Yvonne Perkins has spent 41 years in roles of ever-increasing responsibility at Citizens Energy Group. As the vice president of community relations, she is responsible for establishing the strategic vision for the utility's major internal and external communications initiatives, brand management, public relations programs, neighborhood development initiatives, corporate philanthropy, and improvement strategies for diversity management. She has been active in multiple community organizations ranging from Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, to Planned Parenthood of Indiana. For a decade, she served on the board of the IPS Education Foundation. She is a 2003 recipient of the state's Sagamore of the Wabash, winner of the United Way of Central Indiana's Sarah Lewis Lifetime Achievement Award for Volunteerism, and recipient of the 2006 Madame C. J. Walker Outstanding Woman of the Year Award from the Center for Leadership Development.