Rural Missouri - January 2022 - 4

RM | COOPERATION
Above: New AMEC officers are, from left: President Darrell Atchison, Ozark Border Electric Cooperative; Vice President Loren
Haines, North Central Missouri Electric Cooperative; and Secretary-Treasurer Kim Ponder, Boone Electric Cooperative.
New team to lead AMEC
A
Ponder joins Atchison, Haines as association officers
new team will lead Missouri's electric
cooperatives into the future following the
election of officers at the Association of
Missouri Electric Cooperatives Annual
Meeting held in October 2021.
Darrell Atchison, a director for Ozark Border
Electric Cooperative, Poplar Bluff, is the association's
new president. A financial adviser who has
lived on the same gravel road near Williamsville
since he was 12, Darrell has been a member of his
electric cooperative's board since 2009. He's served
as its president since 2015.
His focus on community service continued in
2020 when he was elected to represent District 153
- which includes Carter, Ripley and parts of Wayne
and Butler counties - as state representative. He
also served in the Missouri National Guard, retiring
with the rank of major.
Darrell volunteers in a number of community
organizations, including the Lions Club, Black River
Volunteer Fire Department Board and Greenville
School Foundation.
He replaces Carmen Hartwell, manager of Gascosage
Electric Cooperative, Dixon, who served as
AMEC president from 2019-2021.
Joining Darrell as officers for the association
are Vice President Loren Haines, manager of North
Central Missouri Electric Cooperative, Milan and
Kim Ponder, who is a director for Boone Electric
Cooperative, Columbia.
4 RURAL MISSOURI | JANUARY 2022
Loren has been manager of North Central Missouri
Electric since 2016. He joined the cooperative's
staff in 1999, when he began his cooperative
career as a member services representative. He
then served as staff assistant from 2006-2013 and
was the cooperative's assistant manager from 2013
until being named manager.
He served on the Load Management Committee
for the association, helping to hold down rates by
reducing peak demand for the state's electric cooperatives.
He also serves on the board of directors for
N.W. Electric Power Cooperative, Cameron.
Kim is a lifelong resident of Boone County. A
graduate of Southern Boone High School, she
earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Columbia
College. She is the executive vice president and
central Missouri retail leader for First State Community
Bank. Kim was elected to Boone Electric's
board of directors in July 2013 and currently holds
the office of treasurer, a position she has held
since 2017. She is a graduate of the Rural Electric
Director Program, earning Credential Cooperative
Director, Board Leadership and Director Gold certificates.
Kim
serves as past-president of the Southern
Boone Economic Development Council, Southern
Boone PTA and Southern Boone County Chamber
of Commerce. She was a founding board member of
the Southern Boone YMCA and former member of
the NRECA Directors Advisory Group.

Rural Missouri - January 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Rural Missouri - January 2022