APRIL 22, 2019

As electric cooperatives, our purpose is to power communities and empower our members to improve the quality of their lives. It’s a purpose that has always driven me, and in the last few weeks I’ve had the opportunity to continue my journey to further this purpose as Tri-State CEO.

I’ve worked for the electric cooperative network my entire career, and am constantly impressed by what we can accomplish when we work together. I’ve always admired the Tri-State organization and have watched it grow over the years. The strength of the association shows in many ways, including the diversity of the service territory and the members themselves, as well as the association’s robust generation, transmission and energy management assets. 

Tri-State’s board has made responsible business decisions throughout its history to help keep costs low for the member at the end of the line. Through the years, the membership has wisely invested in a strong foundation of generation and transmission assets to support a reliable system. Our thermal resources serve a role to provide the capacity that ensures we can always keep the lights on, enabling our success as we look to the opportunities and transitions ahead.

As we move forward, our mission to provide reliable, affordable and responsible power will not change, but how we execute that mission remains flexible. Reliability is our first priority, followed closely by affordability. We will recognize our stewardship and responsibility to our members, and we will change as our members’ expectations are changing. 

What members want today more than ever is flexibility and the ability to self-determine their future. We’re here to support that, and to help our members better serve their members. Our purpose hasn’t changed even as technology has. We still work for the member at the end of the line, and we will not lose focus on that.

We have a unique opportunity, working together with our board and membership, to define for the G&T community how the 21^st century G&T is going to operate. We will do that as an association that remains member focused, increasingly flexible and increasingly clean.

As we work toward these goals, it’s my intention to meet with as many of you as possible—our members, employees and stakeholders who all have an interest in the future of our industry and a role in how we can successfully serve our mission. I’ve already had the privilege to attend three of our members’ annual meetings, and have been overwhelmed by the warm welcome. It’s going to take a while for me to meet all of you, but in the meantime, I’d love to hear from you if you have ideas, feedback or opportunities to present. 

I’m confident in the foundation we’re building upon, and the collaboration that will allow us to continue making responsible decisions we can be proud of.