CIPCO picked two beautiful spring days to hold its Annual Meeting of members in downtown Des Moines this year.  In addition to completing official business of the cooperative, the two-day session also provided an opportunity to see old friends and share ideas.

The meeting kicked off on March 29 with an unveiling of a new internal Intranet and a series of presentations by various CIPCO staff demonstrating how to access information about the status and activities of CIPCO.  All of the directors from member cooperatives were invited to participate as well as key staff, and the turnout was tremendous.

That evening, CIPCO hosted a reception at the State Historical Building for directors and staff as well as a few special guests.  A number of state legislators, executive branch officials, and business partners attended to help celebrate 25 Years of Groundbreaking Success by the Iowa Area Development Group.  In addition, CIPCO honored the progress of member cooperatives in achieving energy efficiency excellence with a presentation of awards. Click here to view a special message from Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack to CIPCO, IADG and all the member systems.

The following morning, the official meeting kicked off with the re-election of all CIPCO directors to the board and reports about the current status of the cooperative.  Treasurer Dale Walkup reported on CIPCO’s strong financial standing despite a challenging year; and Allan Duffe, president of the board, outlined a series of strategic initiatives undertaken by the board to not only prepare the organization but also to position it to take advantage of future opportunities.  CEO Dennis Murdock then outlined his vision for a strategic alignment of CIPCO and distribution cooperatives’ objectives through a series of meetings in their local boardrooms.  The board affirmed its support of the executive committee by re-electing Allan Duffe as president, Bob Collins as vice president, Sam Nichols as Secretary and Dale Walkup as Treasurer.

The Annual Meeting concluded with a series of excellent outside speakers.  First, Tim Coonan with the Iowa Association of Electric Cooperatives provided an overview of the recently concluded legislative session.   Bob Riley, CEO of Feed Energy Company, shared some insightful perspective on being an effective leader and understanding how to make a difference.   The keynote speaker for the meeting was Dr. Alan Walker, President of Upper Iowa University.  He discussed how rapidly the world is changing and the steps he took upon arriving in a small Iowa town to not only run a university but also to build a community.