Message From the CEO

Fall is just around the corner. For ECI REC, that means strategic planning and beginning next year’s budgeting process. It is the responsibility of the Board of Directors to decide how to protect and use our resources to provide the most benefits to our members. Your Board is charged with overseeing and directing ECI REC’s strategic goals and initiatives, as well as the financial health of the Cooperative. I assure you that your Board takes its responsibilities seriously and does a fantastic job looking out for the well-being of ECI REC and our members.

Your Board of Directors approved a Cooperative-wide, three-day strategic planning session. It was held in late June and conducted by a professional facilitator familiar with the industry. There were two employee sessions in addition to the Board and management session.

The purpose of annual strategic planning is to identify and align ECI REC’s organizational direction. While keeping our vision and mission statements before us, we assessed what we have accomplished this year and what we may need to consider for next year. The consensus of this year’s session was that ECI REC will work on a plan that prioritizes the following strategic goals and objectives, which will be implemented over the next two to three years:

• Building member trust through modern options and outreach
• Monitoring and improving technology health
• Improving safety culture
• Investing in infrastructure to enhance service reliability
• Ensuring reliable and affordable power supply
• Maximizing return on employee investment
• Promoting financial strength and stability

Our strategic plan is still in process and will be approved later this year, but I believe this list reflects our best efforts to advance our mission, vision, and strategies for moving our Cooperative forward. We are embracing “Powering Possibilities”—the theme of this year’s Annual Meeting of the Members—to best serve you with safe, affordable, and reliable electricity in an environmentally friendly manner.

We expect a lot of new and exciting things to take place in the coming years. We promise to remain committed to serving our members as we move forward with strategic planning and budgeting for next year. Our vision is to make a difference in the lives we serve, and we will strive to keep that vision before us as we plan for the future.