From the CEO: Welcome to Our 2023 Year in Review

/ Annual Meetings, CEO Insights, Cooperative News / 2 minutes of reading

Mr. Fettes' headshot
Chris Fettes, Chief Exec­u­tive Offi­cer

Your board of direc­tors are elect­ed by you, our mem­bers, and make deci­sions in the best inter­est of the mem­ber­ship as a whole. Our direc­tors live and work in our com­mu­ni­ty and are co-op mem­bers them­selves.

“The board made cru­cial deci­sions in 2023 that not only affect­ed Coastal Elec­tric Cooperative’s day-in, day-out oper­a­tions, but also laid the ground­work for a future of serv­ing our mem­bers with excel­lence and val­ue.

“No mat­ter what oppor­tu­ni­ties and chal­lenges lie ahead, we are com­mit­ted to enhanc­ing the qual­i­ty of life in our com­mu­ni­ties and pro­vid­ing the same lev­el of ser­vice you’ve come to expect and enjoy from Coastal Elec­tric Coop­er­a­tive.”

Your Board of Directors

John Woods, board member

John Woods, III

Pres­i­dent
Lib­er­ty Coun­ty
Kyle Christiansen, board member

Kyle Christiansen

Board Mem­ber
Bryan Coun­ty
Board member Joe Gill

Joseph Fillmore Gill IV

Board Mem­ber
Lib­er­ty Coun­ty
Reagan Odom, board member

Reagan Odom

Vice Pres­i­dent
McIntosh/Long Coun­ties
Holly Fields, board member

Holly Fields

Board Mem­ber
Lib­er­ty Coun­ty
John Kearns, board member

John B. Kearns

Board Mem­ber
McIntosh/Long Coun­ties
Laura McGee, board member

Laura McGee

Sec­re­tary-Trea­sur­er
Bryan Coun­ty
Chuck Gaskin, board member

Chuck Gaskin

Board Mem­ber
McIntosh/Long Coun­ties
Ken Luke, board member

Ken Luke

Board Mem­ber
Bryan Coun­ty

The Seven Cooperative Principles

As a not-for-prof­it elec­tric coop­er­a­tive, we oper­ate dif­fer­ent­ly from oth­er elec­tric util­i­ties, putting mem­bers’ needs first. We keep the Sev­en Coop­er­a­tive Prin­ci­ples at the core of every­thing we do:

1. Open & Voluntary Membership

Mem­ber­ship in a coop­er­a­tive is open to all per­sons who can rea­son­ably use its ser­vices and stand will­ing to accept the respon­si­bil­i­ties of mem­ber­ship, regard­less of race, reli­gion, gen­der, or eco­nom­ic cir­cum­stances.

2. Democratic Member Control

Coop­er­a­tives are demo­c­ra­t­ic orga­ni­za­tions con­trolled by their mem­bers, who active­ly par­tic­i­pate in set­ting poli­cies and mak­ing deci­sions. Rep­re­sen­ta­tives (direc­tors) are elect­ed from among the mem­ber­ship and are account­able to the mem­ber­ship.

3. Members’ Economic Participation

Mem­bers con­tribute equi­tably to, and demo­c­ra­t­i­cal­ly con­trol, the cap­i­tal of their coop­er­a­tive. At least part of that cap­i­tal remains the com­mon prop­er­ty of the coop­er­a­tive.

4. Autonomy & Independence

Coop­er­a­tives are autonomous self-help orga­ni­za­tions con­trolled by their mem­bers. If they enter into agree­ments with oth­er orga­ni­za­tions or raise cap­i­tal from exter­nal sources, they do so on terms that ensure demo­c­ra­t­ic con­trol, as well as their unique iden­ti­ty.

5. Education, Training & Information

Edu­ca­tion and train­ing for mem­bers, elect­ed rep­re­sen­ta­tives (direc­tors), CEOs, and employ­ees help them effec­tive­ly con­tribute to the devel­op­ment of their coop­er­a­tive. Com­mu­ni­ca­tions about the nature and ben­e­fits of coop­er­a­tives, par­tic­u­lar­ly with the gen­er­al pub­lic and opin­ion lead­ers, help boost coop­er­a­tive under­stand­ing.

6. Cooperation Among Cooperatives

By work­ing togeth­er through local, nation­al, region­al, and inter­na­tion­al struc­tures, coop­er­a­tives improve ser­vices, bol­ster local economies, and deal more effec­tive­ly with social and com­mu­ni­ty needs.

7. Concern for Community

Coop­er­a­tives work for the sus­tain­able devel­op­ment of their com­mu­ni­ties through poli­cies sup­port­ed by the mem­ber­ship.

Along Those Lines...

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