NRECA’s 2025 Regional Meetings will tackle major issues affecting electric cooperatives, from growing data center demand to ensuring grid reliability.

The meetings will also advance NRECA’s annual member resolutions process, which directs the association’s policy advocacy for electric co-ops and their 42 million consumer-members.

The annual gatherings kick off Sept. 3, when the Regions 1&4 Meeting begins in Providence, Rhode Island.

“NRECA Regional Meetings are more than events—they're where cooperative leaders unite to shape policy, spark innovation and strengthen the mission of powering rural America with purpose and progress,” said Erin Pressley, NRECA’s senior vice president of Education, Training and Events.

“This year’s agenda tackles the most pressing challenges facing cooperatives—rapid load growth, the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s evolving role, regulatory shifts and succession planning—all through the lens of helping our members continue to deliver safe, affordable and reliable electricity to their communities,” she said.

Each of the five meetings will start with a day of pre-conference sessions, including two new CEO/staff pre-conferences—one on strategies for grid reliability and one on succession planning. The sessions are a great chance for cross-level collaboration, joint planning and alignment among CEOs and other senior-level co-op staff.

Three director education pre-conference sessions are also scheduled on artificial intelligence, providing feedback to your CEO, and director duties and liabilities.

NRECA CEO Jim Matheson will deliver the welcome address at the opening general session, followed by a briefing from NRECA Vice President of Regulatory Affairs Ashley Slater on the most consequential federal actions unfolding right now for electric cooperatives.

From the main stage, attendees will then hear from regional grid operators and planners who will share firsthand insights into the operational challenges of ensuring grid reliability.

Breakout sessions will cover how co-ops can engage on political advocacy; navigating disaster recovery and best practices for working with FEMA (Regions 1&4, 2&3, 5&6 meetings); and preserving a reliable grid in the face of wildfire threats (Regions 7&9, 8&10 meetings).

The closing general sessions will feature a live version of the popular Governance Talk video series, featuring Pat Mangan, NRECA senior principal, governance education, on how boards should be thinking about large loads from data centers, manufacturing and cryptocurrency.

In a change from previous years, voting on member resolutions will take place at the end of each meeting’s last day. The final day will also include breakfast that will start at 7:30 a.m.

Registration is open for all five meetings: