Kathy Cooper-Winters serves as board chair of Northwestern Rural Electric Cooperative Association, based in Cambridge Springs, Pennsylvania, where she has been seated for more than 30 years. She also represents her cooperative on the Allegheny Electric Cooperative (G&T) Board of Directors, including posts as board vice chairman and board treasurer, and on the Cooperative Services (G&T) Board of Directors.

Past owner of Agvize, Inc., a tax and accounting firm for 150 farm clients in northwestern Pennsylvania for 27 years, she also worked as a member services representative for Northwestern RECA for eight years and served as secretary-treasurer of W&K Winters, Inc.

In addition, she serves as a director with Member to Member, Inc., Saegertown United Methodist Church Food Pantry, Meadville Area Soup Kitchen and Pennsylvania Stitchers, Quilts of Valor. She previously was elected as a Woodcock Township, Crawford County, Pennsylvania, auditor.

Cooper-Winters earned a bachelor’s degree in consumer-related services, and CPE credits for tax practitioners from Penn State University. She also has achieved NRECA Credentialed Cooperative Director, Board Leadership Certificate and Director Gold Certificate status.

Cozy Nelsen serves as CEO with Guthrie County Rural Electric Cooperative Association, based in Guthrie Center, Iowa. She currently holds posts as secretary-treasurer and president-elect of the Central Iowa Power Cooperative (G&T) Managers Group and as a member of the Iowa Association of Electric Cooperatives (statewide) regulatory affairs and safety committees.

A former office manager with Guthrie County Rural Electric Cooperative Association, Nelsen is a member of the Guthrie Center Lions Club. She earned a bachelor’s degree in management specializing in marketing and finance, with a minor in French, from Simpson College, and graduated from the NRECA Robert I. Kabat Management Internship Program.

Steve Rhodes currently serves as CEO of CHELCO in Florida.  Prior to his arrival at CHELCO in 2013, he held the position of president and CEO at Kosciusko Rural Electric Membership Cooperative in Warsaw, Indiana, for 10 years. Before that, he worked at Midwest Energy Cooperative in Cassopolis, Michigan, as vice president of marketing and customer services, and as president and CEO of Western Michigan Electric Cooperative in Scottville, Michigan.

Rhodes recently served as chairman of the Touchstone Energy® Cooperatives Board of Directors, the national branding organization representing for the nation’s electric cooperatives. He is a member of the PowerSouth (G&T) Board of Trustees and Southeastern Data Cooperative (SEDC) Board of Directors, and holds a seat on the executive committee of the Okaloosa County (FL) Economic Development Council. 

Rhodes received an M.B.A. from the University of Toledo Graduate School of Business and bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Toledo.

Jeremy Diller has been a member of Bandera Electric Cooperative since 2010 and currently serves on its board of directors. He previously served two terms as a county commissioner in Indiana, as the director of risk management at Indiana Wesleyan University and held the same role more recently for the Texas Association of Public Schools.

After earning a bachelor’s degree in political science from Wheaton College, Diller went on to earn an master’s degree in ministry and an M.B.A. from Indiana Wesleyan University.  

After serving as president of the Inland Power and Light Co. (WA) Board of Trustees, Kristina Bahr now holds an at-large position on her cooperative’s board. An NRECA Credentialed Cooperative Director, she previously served as president of the Washington Rural Electric Cooperative Association (statewide) Board of Directors. 

In addition to her cooperative duties, Bahr has worked as a commercial insurance underwriter, a residential real estate agent, and former co-owner and manager of a dryland wheat and barley farm operation. She earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration/finance from Washington State University and achieved a CPCU from the American Institute of Chartered Property Casualty Underwriters.

Deb Erickson has served as a director with Minnesota Valley Electric Cooperative, based in Jordan, Minnesota, since 2010 and currently represents her cooperative on the Minnesota Rural Electric Association (statewide) Board of Directors, where she is a member of the Resolutions Committee and serves as a Rural Electric Political Action Committee trustee.

A financial adviser with Market Financial since 2003, she was appointed by Gov. Tim Pawlenty to serve as the 2nd Congressional District representative on the Minnesota Compensation Council (2009–2013). In addition, she has been a Rotarian since 2003 and has held posts as club president, secretary, membership chair and on the District 5950 Leadership Team.

Erickson received an associate degree in business marketing from Ridgewater College and attended the Southwest State University CAP program in business management.

Steven A. Harmon is the president and CEO of Community Electric Cooperative in Windsor, Virginia, as well as the CEO of the cooperative’s for-profit subsidiary, RECORE, LLC. Harmon has more than 40 years of experience in the power industry, beginning his career as an apprentice lineman, then journeyman lineman and advancing through various managerial roles to the helm of Community Electric.

Harmon is on the board of directors for Old Dominion Electric Cooperative. He has chaired the Human Resources Committee and served on other committees for the generation and transmission cooperative. He is also a board member of the Virginia, Maryland and Delaware Association of Electric Cooperatives. Prior to those positions, his experience includes membership on the boards of Power South Energy Cooperative, the Alabama Rural Electric Association, United Utility Supply and the Alabama Rural Electric Federal Credit Union. He also was a founding member of the Electric Cooperative Health Insurance Pool and serves on the NRECA Training and Education Department CEO Advisory Group.

Harmon holds a bachelor degree in business administration from Bryan College and an M.B.A. from Auburn University at Montgomery.

William P. Hegmann is the president and CEO of Southwest Arkansas Telephone Cooperative (SWAT) in Texarkana, Arkansas. SWAT provides telephone, internet and television services to residential and business customers in Arkansas and Texas.

Hegmann serves on the board of directors for the Arkansas Telecommunications Association, the National Exchange Carrier Association and the Communications Supply Service Association. He is a former director of the National Telecommunication Corporation and the Western Telecommunications Alliance and a former chairman of the NTCA Group Health Program Trust Committee.

Hegmann is a practicing attorney and a member of the American Bar Association, the Arkansas Bar Association and the Texas Bar Association. He is a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel and a reservist in the U.S. Army Reserve.

Allen R. Hoopes has over 37 years of experience in both broadband and mobile wireless industry and is the board chairman and chief executive officer of Silver Star Communications (Silver Star), a rural broadband and mobile wireless company headquartered in Freedom, Wyoming.

Silver Star provides gigabit speed broadband services and 5G mobile wireless to western Wyoming, including the communities of Star Valley, Afton and Jackson. Silver Star also provides broadband services in eastern Idaho in the communities of Ammon, Boise, Idaho Falls, Driggs, Rexburg and Victor.

Hoopes has served in numerous board roles during his career in telecommunications. Hoopes was a past chairman and board of director of NTCA – The Rural Broadband Association, which is a national organization providing legislative support and advocacy for rural broadband provider members in all 50 states.

Hoopes also served for six years as a board member on the governor appointed Wyoming Business Council from 2015 to 2021. The council provides economic development and loan assistance to encourage business growth and relocation to Wyoming to support economic and employment growth.

Hoopes is a graduate of Brigham Young University with a Bachelor of Science in finance and marketing.

Fred Johnson has served as the chief executive officer of the Farmers Telecommunications Cooperative, Inc., in Rainsville, Alabama, since 2002. His career spans 42 years in the rural telecommunications, rural electrification and public accounting fields. He is active in the Broadband Association of Alabama & Mississippi and in NTCA – The Rural Broadband Association. Johnson served on the board of NTCA for nine years, including a term as chairman. He currently serves on the Alabama 9-1-1 board, which oversees the funding of emergency communication districts within Alabama. Johnson joins the NCSC board as a former director of RTFC.

Johnson is a CPA with an undergraduate degree in accounting and business administration from Southern Wesleyan University and an MBA from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.  He is currently midway towards earning a doctorate in business administration.

John Klatt started in the industry working for Amery Telecom in 1981. He worked at Amery until 1988, when he was hired as general manager of Cochrane Telephone Cooperative. In 1989, he was hired as general manager of Luck Telephone Company in Luck, Wisconsin. In 1995, Luck Telephone Company and five local, independent telephone companies purchased a regional cable television company. Klatt managed that initiative and served as president of the resulting company’s board of directors, Vision Communications, LLC. In response to the Telecommunications Rewrite Act of 1996, Luck Telephone Company and Milltown Mutual Telephone Company merged to form Lakeland Communications, Inc. Klatt was promoted to the board of directors and became president of the board of directors and CEO of Lakeland Communications in 1997. He currently serves in those capacities today.

Klatt was elected to the RTFC Board of Directors in 2021 and served as chairman in 2023. He is also a former board member of NTCA – The Rural Broadband Association and served as president of NTCA’s Board of Directors in 2018. In 2007, Klatt was awarded the NTCA Life Achievement Manager Award. He is also a board member of Rural Trust Insurance Company. Klatt obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in general business administration from the University of Wisconsin-Stout.

Tyson Littau is the CEO and general manager of Northwestern Electric Cooperative in Oklahoma. He is also a member of the NRECA Region 8 Legislative Standing Committee and Western Farmers Electric Cooperative. He is the vice president of the Oklahoma Association of Electric Cooperatives and chairs the statewide’s Endowment Committee. Littau holds a B.S. in business administration with an emphasis on finance and minors in accounting, economics and international business from Oklahoma State University. He is also a graduate of the NRECA Robert I. Kabat Management Internship Program.

Jason Miller is the vice president, treasurer and general manager of Delhi Telephone Company, Inc. and DTC Cable, Inc. (DTC). Miller has been employed by DTC since May 2008 and has held various roles over the past 15 years, becoming the general manager in 2013. DTC currently maintains several business lines: local telephone, long distance, internet, television, security and IT consulting. DTC employs over 40 people and provides services to over 6,000 customers.

DTC has partnered with Margaretville Telephone Company and the Delaware County Electric Cooperative, Inc. for the Delaware County Broadband Initiative since 2015. DTC has also participated in multiple phases of the NY Broadband Grant Program, building broadband for large sections of Delaware County.

Miller is on the board of directors of the New York State Telecommunications Association, Inc. (NYSTA) and is the chairman of the NYSTA Government Affairs Committee. He is also a member of the NTCA Government Affairs Committee and the NTCA Rural Broadband PAC. Miller has a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Syracuse University and an MBA from Binghamton University.

Bruce W. Mueller is the CEO and general manager of Wheatland Electric Cooperative in Kansas. He joined the cooperative in 2012 and is responsible for directing the overall operations. Before joining Wheatland, he worked in the electric utility industry at Central Power and Light (now American Electric Power) for 18 years and San Bernard Electric Cooperative in Texas for 10 years in executive management roles. He holds a B.B.A. in finance from Texas State University and an M.B.A. in management from the University of Houston–Victoria. He is a graduate of NRECA’s Robert I. Kabat Management Internship Program. Mueller is on the board of Sunflower Electric Power Corporation and is an alternate board member for Kansas Electric Cooperatives.

Wayne Stratton serves as a director of Shelby Energy Cooperative, based in Shelbyville, Kentucky. He also serves as his co-op’s representative on the East Kentucky Power Cooperative (G&T) Board of Directors, including a stint as past chair; as a former member of the ACES Power Marketing (now ACES) Board of Directors; and as a former member of the National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corporation Board of Directors (elected to fill the At-Large Audit Committee Financial Expert seat, 2007–2013).

A Certified Public Accountant and partner with Jones, Nale & Mattingly PLC, Stratton has been designated as a Certified Forensic Accountant by the American College of Forensic Examiners and a Certified Fraud Examiner by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners. He served as past president, Kentucky Society of Certified Public Accountants; former chair, Kentucky Higher Education Authority; and chair, Republic Bancorp Audit Committee. He also has been recognized as one of the top tax accountants in the country by Money magazine.

Stratton earned a B.B.A in accounting from the University of Cincinnati.