ARLINGTON, Va. – Chris Christensen, a director of NorVal Electric Cooperative in Montana, today begins his two-year term as president of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) board of directors. Curtis Wynn, NRECA’s outgoing board president and CEO of Roanoke Electric Cooperative, passed the gavel to Christensen during NRECA’s annual meeting.
Christensen was elected NRECA president by the association’s board of directors. He is the immediate past vice president and previously served as secretary-treasurer. Tony Anderson, general manager of Cherryland Electric Cooperative in Michigan, was elected vice president, and Joe Martin, board president at Mountain View Electric Association in Colorado, secretary-treasurer.
“I want to thank Curtis for his service and express my gratitude to NRECA’s board for this tremendous opportunity,” said Christensen, who has served on the association’s board for seven years. “Managing the impacts of the pandemic during this past year has presented co-ops and their consumer-members with challenges unlike any we’ve faced before. It’s critical that electric cooperatives meet these challenges together with compassion for our communities and continued dialogue with our elected leaders.”
“We are extremely fortunate to have had such strong and thoughtful leaders help electric co-ops navigate the evolving energy landscape and the challenges of the last year,” said NRECA Chief Executive Officer Jim Matheson. “It has been a pleasure working with Curtis as board president, and I look forward to working alongside Chris.”
Christensen is the first Montanan elected as an officer of the NRECA board of directors. He is a Credentialed Cooperative Director and is NRECA Board Leadership Certified. Christensen manages his family’s cattle ranch with his wife, Carol, and four children.
He is a former Agricultural Education instructor, Future Farmers of America advisor, member of the Agricultural Education Advisory Committee for Montana State University, and past director of numerous other school, association and professional boards.
Matheson recognized Wynn’s leadership during a tenure marked by the pandemic and social change. “Curtis has served this organization so well in so many ways, including focusing our membership on the significant changes in the energy sector and steps that co-ops should be taking to support their members in the years ahead,” Matheson said. “He has been a great source of counsel and advice for me and has contributed so much to our board of directors during these past six years as an officer.”
“It has been a privilege to serve as NRECA’s president and work closely with our board and membership to advance key electric cooperative business and policy priorities,” said Wynn. “The future is bright for electric co-ops, and I look forward to continuing my service to the cooperative family under Chris’s leadership.”
The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association is the national trade association representing nearly 900 local electric cooperatives. From growing suburbs to remote farming communities, electric co-ops serve as engines of economic development for 42 million Americans across 56 percent of the nation’s landscape. As local businesses built by the consumers they serve, electric cooperatives have meaningful ties to rural America and invest $12 billion annually in their communities.
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