NRECA will hold the 2020 Regional Meetings online for a single week in October due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Online Regional Week will take place Oct. 12-16. Each of NRECA’s 10 regions will conduct resolutions committee and business meetings during the week, and there will be two general sessions for all regions. District meetings for the National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corp. (CFC) will also take place during the week.

While attendees won’t meet in person this year, the online format does have advantages, said Tracey Steiner, NRECA’s senior vice president for education and training. For example, electric cooperative staff who typically don’t attend regional meetings will have a chance to participate and learn about the resolutions process.

“We are able to bring in prominent speakers that couldn’t commit to five separate meetings,” said Steiner. “And, with the spacing of the sessions and meetings over the course of the week, participants can attend to other commitments rather than spending that time driving or flying to get to and from the meeting.”

All regions convene Oct. 14 for the general sessions, breakouts and other speeches. Retired Gen. and former Secretary of State Colin Powell and NRECA CEO Jim Matheson will engage in a conversation, “Leadership: Taking Charge.” Instead of the traditional ACRE® breakfast at each regional meeting, NRECA’s political action committee will feature remarks from Amy Walter, national editor of the Cook Political Report and host of WNYC's “The Takeaway Fridays.”

The Schedule Basics

Oct. 12 and 13: Resolutions committee meetings
Oct. 14: Joint general sessions and breakouts
Oct. 15 and 16: NRECA and CFC business meetings

Session Highlights

An open discussion and Q&A for CEOs featuring Matheson and CFC CEO Sheldon Petersen will replace the CEO breakfast. NRECA Chief Operating Officer Jeffrey Connor will moderate the session.

In the first general session, Matheson will address the membership, followed by the conversation with Powell. During the second general session, NRECA President Curtis Wynn, who is also president and CEO of Roanoke Electric Cooperative, will focus on the meaning of diversity, equity and inclusion among co-ops, their members and communities, and how co-ops must adapt to meet changing needs.

Next, Tony Anderson, general manager of Cherryland Electric Cooperative and NRECA’s secretary-treasurer, will give the financial update for NRECA. CFC’s Petersen will speak later that day.

The program will then turn to November’s elections, and Walter will provide her insights. Members will also have a chance to enter an optional contest predicting congressional election outcomes. This event is not a fundraiser, and all members are invited to participate.

Strategic energy policy leader Susan Eisenhower will discuss charting America’s energy future and futurist Jim Carroll will address the fast pace of change in the energy industry in two breakout sessions.

Resolutions Process

The regional resolutions committees will consider the 2020 Compendium of Proposed Resolutions. Voting members are welcome to ask questions of the committee members and offer new resolutions from their co-op boards or statewide associations but must submit them to resolutions@nreca.coop by Oct. 1.

The 2020 Compendium, and any new resolutions from the regions’ committees, will be considered by the regions’ voting delegates during their business meetings. The final resolutions will be adopted at the 2021 NRECA Annual Meeting in February.

For more information and to register, check out the Conferences & Education section. For information on the online format and the member resolutions process, check out the member resolutions section.