Thank You
This article is my final report to the members of South Plains Electric Cooperative (SPEC). My last day as Executive Vice President and General Manager is May 31, 2012. My wife and I have made the decision to retire and spend what we pray will be quality years watching our four grandchildren grow and develop.
The past 36 years have been a blessing to me and my family. My experience in the electric cooperative family has totally fulfilled my career dreams.
I have a list of individuals to thank that could use up multiple pages of this magazine. As I do my best to go through the list, I will be interjecting some history so you’ll know how the pieces of my career fit together.
I began my electric cooperative career with the former Gate City Electric Cooperative in 1976. Had it not been for the courage of those first nine Gate City Directors who took a chance on a 28-year-old with no electric cooperative experience, my story would have been much different.
Gate City merged with SPEC in 2000, and I moved to Lubbock to serve the newly expanded membership as the Director of Business Development. The SPEC Board of Directors selected me to assume leadership responsibilities upon the retirement of Jim Roberts. I began serving as General Manager on January 1, 2003.
Another nine years down the road finds me writing this thank you message.
South Plains Electric proudly includes the former Dickens Electric Cooperative (merged 1999) and the former Gate City Electric Cooperative (merged 2000). I personally believe our Board of Directors has built one of the finest electric cooperatives in the entire country. We have a large base of members, a diverse mix of loads and employees capable of utilizing technology to the maximum benefit of the membership.
Now back to my thank-you list.
First and foremost, I thank the nearly 200 employees I was fortunate enough to manage over the years. They gave their best every day to serve the owners of our business.
If all the SPEC members actually knew the heart of their Cooperative employees as I do, they would understand why I know we are the best anywhere.
Equally important are the 36 individuals who have served as Cooperative Directors during my tenure. As important as the first nine Gate City Directors that originally hired me, I will be forever grateful to the South Plains Electric Board for giving me the opportunity to lead SPEC.
Walking away from this complete package of members, employees and directors was not an easy decision for me. I love what I do, but I also love my family and desire more than anything else to have some special years with each of them before I get too old.
I leave this job with a great deal of pride in what we have put into place up to now. I’m confident that my successor, Dale Ancell, with the direction of a very wise Board of Directors, will continue to move SPEC forward. For such a great organization—the best is yet to come.
Thank you all for a blessed career.
