A Final Thanks // February 2025 CEO Column
As I write my last column as Lake Region Electric Cooperative’s CEO, I have a lot of mixed emotions. It has been an honor to have served as your CEO for 17 years. I am so proud of the people here and all the things we have accomplished together.
Through the years, providing safe, reliable, and affordable electricity has been our mission. The commitment of our employees to achieve unprecedented results has been inspiring. The commitment to serve others has been nothing short of exceptional.
We’ve come a long way. With a team of dedicated, focused employees, in partnership with our board of directors, we grew into an organization better equipped to serve you in the full cooperative model.
Our goal to exist as more than “just an electric company” led to additional energy services not previously offered. For example, the information and guidance we shared about taking a proactive approach to energy usage created opportunities to generate savings for our members. And, whether through the peace of mind and security provided by our residential generator program or the start of Lake Region Energy Services, our natural gas subsidiary that delivered a new option to unserved areas, we set our sights on finding new solutions that provided a real benefit to you and your families.
Working within and embracing a forward-thinking culture such as LREC’s allowed us to emerge as a leader in renewable energy. That eye on the future spurred the installation of member-owned solar panels and sparked the initiative needed to build the first of its kind wind/solar hybrid project. This project brought a local source of renewable energy generation to our service area and reduced our wholesale power cost.
Of course, none of this would have been possible without your involvement. Engagement in grassroots events, questions and comments shared during district and annual meetings, and feedback submitted through our annual Member Satisfaction Survey often drove the improvements we’ve seen over the past 17 years. Because of your input, we became more mindful about how to address recurring service interruptions and invested more in vegetation management to help increase reliability – including becoming an owner in Carr’s Tree Service – which resulted in a 60% reduction in outage time. As we became more deliberate in how we allocated your dollars, we were able to lower our operational costs and, as of today, offer some of the lowest rates in our peer group.
The results are impossible to ignore. In addition to all the accomplishments above, we continue to maintain a record-high member satisfaction rating and received recognition from the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) through the Electric Cooperative Purpose Award, presented to LREC in 2023.
That’s a lot to be proud of – and much of it can be attributed to our elected board’s ability to govern our co-op locally, instead of through lawmakers in St. Paul. Local governance is an integral part of the cooperative model. It is something I advocated for during my time with LREC and will continue to support in the future.
As I head to my exciting new opportunity with Crow Wing Power in Brainerd, I know LREC is in great hands with a dedicated board of directors and wonderful team of employees.
Thank you for all of the moments, everything we built together, and the trust and support along the way.

As I close, I am reminded of a quote from a member submitted through our most recent Member Satisfaction survey: “They really care for and serve the members.” That quote is exactly what we aspire to be. Caring for and serving others makes a huge difference
in the world.
With heartfelt thanks and best wishes,
