cfc-news June 18, 2026

Suggs Reflects on 50-Year Cooperative Career

CFC Board President Mark Suggs concluded his six years of service as a CFC director during the 57th CFC Annual Membership Meeting, held June 15 in Chula Vista, California.

In his president’s report, Suggs reflected on the people and experiences that shaped his nearly 50-year career in the electric cooperative industry and centered his remarks on a simple but powerful idea: paying it forward.

“As I have reflected on this past year, and really on the journey that brought me here, one idea keeps coming back to me. It’s a simple idea, but a powerful one: paying it forward,” Suggs said. “That idea has been a guiding principle in my life for a long time, in part because I have lived it myself. This October, I will mark 50 years in the electric cooperative industry. And if you had told me when I was a college student—studying architecture, no less—that this is where life would take me, I would have said you had the wrong guy.”

Suggs recalled being raised “between two rows of tobacco” in eastern North Carolina and entering the cooperative industry without a background in engineering. What he did have, he said, was an opportunity—because someone saw potential in him and gave him a chance.

That experience, Suggs said, helped define his understanding of leadership and service. Paying it forward means taking the opportunity, knowledge, encouragement and trust that others have provided and passing them on to the next person.

“To me, paying it forward also describes what CFC does every single day for its members,” Suggs said. “CFC provides capital, yes. But it also provides experience, perspective, tools and trusted guidance. It provides partnership. And if you have been around this organization long enough, you realize the value of that partnership cannot be measured by interest rates alone. The real measure is the all-in value CFC brings to members: the expertise, the responsiveness, the long-term commitment and the willingness to stand beside cooperatives as they navigate both challenges and opportunities.”