05/29/2025
Its been an absolute honor to serve the members of Blue Ridge Electric for the past 6-years as your elected Director from the Ashe District.
I am again asking for your vote as each member receives their ballot either by mail or electronically this week. You have until June 18th at 5:00PM to vote and return your ballots. You can also choose to vote in person at the annual meeting on June 26th. I would encourage you to go ahead and vote your ballot and get it returned to be counted.
Cooperatives are special in that they are founded on seven basic principles: voluntary and open membership, democratic member control, members' economic participation, autonomy and independence, education, training, and information, cooperation among cooperatives, and concern for community.
Many of you may not know my Blue Ridge Story. I grew up going to the big county fair style annual meetings that used to be held at the high schools with my grandparents. They taught me the importance of voting, not only in cooperative elections but in all of our elections. My grandparents remembered a time in Ashe County when we did not have power and the big for profit providers would not bring electric service to the mountains. They understood first-hand what a difference our cooperative makes in our communities.
In high school (1995), I was honored to be selected for the Washington, DC Youth Tour that all of our NCEMC cooperatives even today participate. Our local students would recognize this as today's "Leadership Track." It was from this experience that I really began to understand how special the cooperative model truly is.
Years later, I was asked to serve on our local Membership Advisory Committee. This committee is considered the "Eye's and Ear's of the Board." I served two 3-year terms and was chair of that committee most of that time. From that, I also served on the local Foundation Advisory Committee that administers the "Round-Up" dollars for community grants. I also interviewed nominees while serving the Nominating Committee and helped with the election process while serving on the Credentials and Elections Committee.
The opportunity came up 6-years ago to run for a vacant board seat that I won. Even though I had years of experience on committees for the cooperative, I found that understanding the power business from the board perspective required more investment.
I have taken 20 (8 hour) courses over the last 6-years to help me be a better board member earning Credentialed Cooperative Director, Board Leadership, and Director Gold Credentials from NRECA.
I have met board members from other cooperatives from all over the country. I can tell you that we are very fortunate that Blue Ridge is OUR cooperative.
As your board member, I am focused on these things.
1. Reliable Electric Power - It is the lifeblood of our communities.
2: Affordable Electric Power - Our members are struggling with higher costs across the board. We have to do everything we can as board members to keep our power costs as low as possible without compromising reliability or safety of the employees.
I hope to earn your vote for re-election!
