Electric cooperative colleagues are remembering NRECA Director of Safety Programs Ken Macken as a dynamic, positive presence with a gift for connecting with people and inspiring them to talk openly about safe work practices and near misses.

Macken passed away Saturday after suffering a heart attack while driving with his family in Delaware County, Oklahoma, near his home in Rose. He had just wrapped up NRECA’s Safety Leadership Summit two days earlier in St. Louis, Missouri. He was 64.

“It’s a huge loss, and its timing, after having such an incredible summit, I think, has touched everyone’s heart,” said Bud Branham, Macken’s predecessor at NRECA. During the April 14-16 conference, “We were just with him, just watching him laugh and hug everybody.”

Macken joined NRECA in 2024 after spending nine years at KAMO Power as safety director for the Vinita, Oklahoma, transmission cooperative. As the association’s primary safety advocate, he oversaw the national program, including the administration of the RESAP program, Commitment to Zero Contacts Phase 2 and Speak Up, Listen Up, a communication initiative he had planned to relaunch later this year. He traveled extensively, working with member co-ops on their safety efforts.

Macken’s sudden death is a “tragedy and immeasurable loss for NRECA, for electric cooperatives and for the many people whose lives he touched,” NRECA CEO Jim Matheson said. “Ken was the cornerstone of our safety program and a familiar, trusted presence among NRECA members. He inspired our safety mission, championed our cooperative community and embodied the very best of NRECA and America’s electric cooperatives. My heart breaks for Ken’s wife and family, whom he loved so deeply.”

Macken’s legacy, said co-op safety professionals, lies in his message that good relationships at all levels are the foundation of a strong safety culture to ensure that people go home with “10, 10 2&2,” a slogan he coined to encourage job focus so that employees returned home with 10 fingers, 10 toes, two arms and two legs.

“He talked about going home with a whole body and a whole mind every day,” said NRECA Chief Operating Officer Jeffrey Connor. “And like many things Ken identified, it was something that applies to all of us. His message was about making a positive difference, and he was driven by his belief in our ability to affect the people around us in positive ways. He could unlock that goodness in people.”

KAMO Power colleagues said what they’ll remember most is Macken’s influence in building a strong safety culture. “One thing that really stood out was how he created an environment where no one on a crew—no matter how experienced—was afraid to speak up,” said Cody Johnson, a line superintendent and a colleague. “As Ken would say, ‘Let’s get a TO (timeout), baby!’”

Federated Rural Electric Insurance Exchange’s Rusty Endicott knew Macken for 25 years, starting from when he was a safety manager at Barton County Electric Cooperative in Lamar, Missouri. Perhaps shaped by his other career as a Baptist minister, the late safety director “demonstrated care and love for everyone.”

“He thought if you could just show people that we care for them and we want them to go home to their families, that we can do this hazardous job,” Endicott said. “We agreed on a lot, and an area we had in common is that line work's not dangerous, it's hazardous. It’s the human element that makes it dangerous.”

Current and former NRECA colleagues shared heartwarming stories about Macken to illustrate his humanity.

As Macken’s assistant in the NRECA safety program, Jasmyne Montague formed a close bond with him. She recalled several moments when Macken paused RESAP stakeholder meetings to acknowledge the hotel staff bringing refreshments. “He was that kind of human being…beyond compassionate.”

“We clicked immediately,” said NRECA Program Manager Rebecca Bittle in recalling when she first met Macken two years ago to work on the Safety Summit. They had plans to go to dinner at a restaurant in Arlington, Virginia, following an NRECA reception. She waited for Macken for about an hour while he worked the room.

“He said, ‘I just want to say hi to few people and then we can go,’” Bittle said. “He spoke to every single person at that reception, and he shook hands with every CEO and every staff member who was there. And he wasn’t going through the motions. He was genuine in wanting to meet and connect with everyone in the room. That was Ken.”

At a director’s meeting in Illinois, Branham recalled Macken going above and beyond for a woman in a wheelchair to enter the meeting. “He bent down, talked to her, had his arm around her, asking if she needed anything else. He wound up clearing a little spot for her near the stage. He really was that sincere.”

Before joining KAMO Power, Macken was manager of safety and loss control for 12 years at the Association of Illinois Electric Cooperatives. He has a bachelor’s degree in education from John Brown University in Siloam Springs, Arkansas, and a master’s degree in education from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Missouri. When not visiting co-ops around the country, he spent his free time ranching, working on chain saw carvings and serving Calvary Baptist Church as a minister.

He leaves behind his wife, Malia Jackson Macken, and a son, Sam.