By Mary Kate Pedigo, Sam Houston Electric Cooperative
I’ve come to realize our community of electric cooperative communicators holds countless opportunities for networking, collaboration and professional growth. We have opportunities to impact our own careers as well as those around us. The Certified Cooperative Communicator Board of Directors, in my opinion, is an integral part of improving the careers of all co-op communicators.
Facilitating and growing our program successfully comes with a lot of hard work, and I’ll take this opportunity to commend my fellow board members for a job well done.
Your directors have done a tremendous job tackling a few impactful projects this year. The CAPS committee is still immersed in a review and overhaul of both the exam and the Body of Knowledge. These improvements have driven a widespread effort by our Program Planning Committee to keep our working documents cohesive and up-to-date. They are currently wrapping up extensive updates to the program manual, including the parameters surrounding portfolio submissions.
Our committees have taken on these tasks and have identified areas for continued work. Especially for the CAPS committee, their tasks are ongoing, because they directly impact the foundational infrastructure of the program. To help support this momentum, you voted to approve two additional directors on the board. We placed our first new director on the board in 2017. The second additional director will be added in 2018, bringing the size of our board to 12. We will also retain our representatives from NRECA and CREC.
If you’ve ever had an interest in serving on the Certified Cooperative Communicator Board of Directors, our election is just around the corner. In 2018, we have six seats (including three incumbents and one new director) up for election.
Our board meets in-person three times a year, and we also meet via conference call every month. One of those in-person meetings coincides with the CONNECT Conference each spring. Our board undoubtedly tackles great challenges and has a lot of passion for the program. But we know that passion and drive lives in abundance with our fellow CCCs. I invite you to visit Cooperative.com for the details on our upcoming election—deadline for materials is March 1, 2018.
I also want to encourage each of you to register for and plan to attend the CONNECT Conference next May in Salt Lake City. The board will be celebrating our milestone CCCs again and will have fun activities for participants at our exhibit booth. We hope to see you there!
Whether it’s serving on a board, attending a conference or mentoring a CCC candidate, I encourage you to take opportunities where you can to help impact someone else’s career. We can all attribute our successes to colleagues we’ve met along our career journey. Take today as a chance to be a part of someone else’s success.
