When Mark Maassel came to the region three decades ago for a job with the Northern Indiana Public Service Co., he expected to make the move, stay for a while, and then return to Minnesota.

Happily, he remained.

In December, Maassel, whose humanity put a compassionate face at the helm of NIPSCO, relinquished his position as president there. He had served in that leadership post since the beginning of 2004.

Now, Maassel, 53, the youngest to be inducted into the Northwest Indiana Business and Industry Hall of Fame, is hitting his stride, some say, and they hope that the region will be the happy beneficiary.

Maassel, who was a recent University of Minnesota graduate armed with a civil engineering degree when he and his wife Christine first came to Indiana, said he found the work at NIPSCO, as well as the region itself, compelling.

"It's hard not to develop an affinity for this community," Maassel said, relaxing in the lakeside home in Valparaiso that the couple has called home for 10 years. "There are wonderful folks in this area."

In the 25 years leading up to his presidency, Maassel served in various leadership roles with the corporation. He was involved in power plant construction and engineering, managed the environmental department, gas and electric distribution operations, as well as worked with sales organizations.

During that time, Maassel earned a juris doctorate degree with honors from the Chicago-Kent College of Law at the Illinois Institute of Technology .

Prior to being named president, Maassel served as vice president of Regulatory and Governmental Policy for NiSource, NIPSCO's parent company.

"The NIPSCO transitions were each exciting," Maassel said, adding that they offered challenges that kept him and his family in Northwest Indiana.

Lauded for the overt intelligence he brought to his role at NIPSCO, Maassel is a regional thinker, the evidence of which is seen not only in his work for the corporation, but in the private sector as well.

Vincent Galbiati, CEO and president of the Northwest Indiana Forum Inc., has a high regard for Maasel, a former chairman of the forum's board of directors.

"He has mentored and led Northwest Indiana's business leaders and has spent countless and selfless hours to build strong organizations through the region to improve the quality of life," Galbiati said, adding, "Mark's emphasis on regional collaboration has taken root in the Forum and will continue to strengthen regional projects." In fact, Maassel himself points to a regional project of which he is most proud. "To have the opportunity to be part of the United Ways, and to be part of bringing the two of them, working, together, has been rewarding," he said.

It was Maassel's forward thinking that conceived the idea, then led the drive to form the multi-county collaboration -- Lake, Porter and LaPorte -- of United Way organizations aimed at heightening their ability to address health and social service issues.

At the time, Maassel said, "The zip codes may be different, but the quality of life issues that confront our communities unite us." Maassel said that he found his life's view as the son of a pastor with the Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod and, later, in his professional associations.

"It's the Bob Welshes, the Denis Ribordys and the Dean Whites who have been an inspiration," he said.

Maassel said he hopes that such programs as "Dollars for Doers," in which NIPSCO rewarded employees for their private sector volunteer hours, will have a lasting effect on those involved and encourage them to continue in such endeavors. "I do think, and I hope, that I've been a positive influence on others," he said.

It is his intent, Maassel said, to continue his associations with a number of civic groups including the Crisis Center, Inc., Gary, where he is vice-president of the board of directors.

Maassel said he feels honored to be named to the Northwest Indiana Business and Industry Hall of Fame.

Mulling the notion of success, he said he finds the monetary definition to be fleeting. "The more lasting definition of success is people-oriented," Maassel, a strong family man, said, pointing to his father-in-law who raised seven children. "He was the far richer. It's something to aspire to," he said.

What of the future? "I'm spending time now to see what I want to be when I grow up," Maassel said with a grin.