Oregonian Ted Case Takes 2020 Top Communications Honor

Ted Case, executive director of the Oregon Rural Electric Cooperative Association and noted author, took home the 2020 J.C. Brown CEO Communication Leadership Award during the NRECA CEO Close-Up meeting in Palm Desert, California, this month.

“I am honored to win this award, particularly when I look at who the award is named after and the previous winners,” Case said. “It’s humbling just to be in the same conversation as these talented co-op communicators.”

CFC CEO Sheldon Petersen remarked on the news, “Ted’s work in communicating the cooperative message is truly deserving of this award. He has raised the bar for statewide magazines and helped advance our appreciation for the electric cooperative legacy in ways no one else has.”

Cooperative Movement Author

Case has penned two books on cooperatives. He published “Power Plays: The U.S. Presidency, Electric Cooperatives and the Transformation of Rural America” in 2013 and followed that up with “Poles, Wires and War: The Remarkable Untold Story of Rural Electrification and the Vietnam War” in 2017.

He joined the speaker lineup at CFC Forum 2017 where he discussed “Poles, Wires and War” with prominent energy journalist and author Robert Bryce. “The text focuses on the elite team of rural electrification specialists sent to accomplish an almost impossible mission, and who found themselves battling turf-conscious bureaucrats, White House advisers and a ruthless enemy,” related Case, who is no stranger to politics. 

Storied Career

A native Oregonian, Case spent 20 years in Washington D.C., including stints as staff director of the House Water and Power Subcommittee that oversees the Bonneville Power Administration. He also served 12 years with NRECA and was the legislative director of the Government Relations Department for five years. He is a graduate of Pacific Lutheran University and has a master’s degree in fiction writing from Johns Hopkins University.

Legendary Award Namesake

The J.C. Brown CEO Communication Leadership Award, a major component of the Spotlight on Excellence Awards program sponsored by the Council of Rural Electric Communicators, annually recognizes an electric cooperative chief executive who advances communications among electric cooperatives. It is named for the late J.C. Brown, who headed the North Carolina Association of Electric Cooperatives (statewide) and later served with NRECA as editor and publisher of Rural Electrification Magazine (now RE Magazine) and Rural Electric News Letter (now ECT.coop) before retiring in 1993 as publications director.