When Brittany Sams was hired as an accountant at LaGrange County REMC, her college degrees and experience prepared her for accounting and business, of course. But no education or previous experience prepared her for the not-for-profit business model and the many accounting differences that come with a consumer-owned utility. The plan was for her to… Continue reading.

By Richard Biever Chuck Tiemann recognizes more than most how one bad day at work can change a life. He cites his by the day and hour: Thursday, May 1, 1980 — May Day, appropriately — 1:58 p.m. … Central Time. That’s when Chuck, not three years into his career as a lineman for a… Continue reading.

Since 2009, Indiana Connection magazine and electric co-ops like yours, have teamed up to honor middle school students in grades 5-8 who are making a difference in their communities through the Youth Power and Hope Awards program. The latest group of winners was honored on Dec. 7 at the Indiana Electric Cooperatives Annual Meeting held… Continue reading.

The old saying about good things coming to those who wait is only partially true for Leslie Beard. She already had a good thing, she said; that was being hired not long after college as a customer service representative at WIN Energy REMC in 2000. But she was a marketing graduate, and that’s what she… Continue reading.

Danielle Sommerman’s valedictory submission for the Indiana Electric Cooperative student art contest was a tour de force. Her senior work from the contest not only won her grade division — which was her seventh first place award — but also earned her a Best of Show for the second time. The mixed media illustration of… Continue reading.

Diana Martinez used to be a “face” of Carroll White REMC as the member services representative working closely with consumers who had billing issues and questions. Now, she’s made a 180-degree shift. As operations coordinator, she literally and figuratively has gone from front to back: from the front offices to the back operations; from helping… Continue reading.

When Nick Stainbrook joined JCREMC in 2001, he came in as a 19-year-old local kid waiting his turn to become a lineman. But he had to wait in line for an apprentice position to become available. So, for the first year and a half, his position meant taking care of the JCREMC building, cleaning, mowing… Continue reading.

By Richard G. Biever Danielle Long asked artist Bill Wolfe to hold her 1-year-old son as she stepped onto a riser in Wolfe’s studio. Then, she peered deep and long into the eyes and face of the sculpture Wolfe had conjured from clay. It was the face of her late husband, fallen Terre Haute police… Continue reading.

The day Mary Jo Thomas took the open accounting position at Whitewater Valley REMC in 1996, she began working her way up the career ladder. In 2013, she became president and CEO of the cooperative that provides electricity to consumers in several counties along the Indiana/Ohio state line around Richmond.  “I did not set out… Continue reading.

Leona Wright doesn’t remember the exact day electricity came to her family’s White County farm, but she remembers the results: “It sure was nice to get away from the coal oil lamps to do my homework.” Now 95, Wright was just a teenager when her local REMC turned the lights on in the waning days… Continue reading.

If ever someone was destined for a career in the electric cooperative industry, it would have to be Blake Kleaving. The Perry County native is a third-generation co-op guy who’s already had multiple jobs, including college internships, with multiple electric cooperative organizations large and small. “Every step of the way,” he said, “it’s all been… Continue reading.

Just out of high school, Scot Price was uncertain about the direction he wanted his life to take. He took a manufacturing job assembling electric meters in West Lafayette, knowing it wasn’t going to be long term. In 1990, he took a job on the other side of the meter — at Tipmont REMC —… Continue reading.