Joe Brannan, executive vice president and CEO for North Carolina’ Electric Cooperatives, opened the meeting by addressing the theme “Leadership with Impact.”

“Everyone in this room has a track record of showing nationally recognized leadership,” Brannan said. “You continue to innovate and rise to overcome challenges, but you never lose sight of our core mission.”

Brannan highlighted three areas of importance during this era of industry change: affordability, reliability and stability — the latter through the strength of the co-op network. That strength was highlighted during recovery efforts following Hurricane Helene, Brannan said.

During a panel discussion facilitated by Sharla Wells, vice president of External Affairs for North Carolina’s Electric Cooperatives, executive leadership from the four NC co-ops most affected by Helene discussed the recovery: Haywood EMC’s Tom Batchelor, Rutherford EMC’s Dirk Burleson, Blue Ridge Energy’s Doug Johnson, and French Broad EMC’s Jeff Loven.

The theme of cooperation among cooperatives ran throughout the panel, with agreement that restoration efforts wouldn’t have been successful without support from other electric co-ops and from co-op members.

“Our line technicians often heard people in the community clapping for them when the lights came on. That meant so much to them,” Johnson said. “It was just a total membership and employee response that I’ll never forget.”

Attendees also heard from keynote speaker Jim Matheson, CEO of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA), the national trade association representing more than 900 electric co-ops from across the county. Cape Hatteras Electric Cooperative Executive Vice President and General Manager Susan Flythe addressed the group as NCEMC board president. Flythe was also elected to represent North Carolina on the NRECA board of directors. 

Business meetings for the three statewide organizations were also held, where officers were elected (see full list, below).