Cozy Nelsen serves as CEO with Guthrie County Rural Electric Cooperative Association, based in Guthrie Center, Iowa. She currently holds posts as secretary-treasurer and president-elect of the Central Iowa Power Cooperative (G&T) Managers Group and as a member of the Iowa Association of Electric Cooperatives (statewide) regulatory affairs and safety committees.

A former office manager with Guthrie County Rural Electric Cooperative Association, Nelsen is a member of the Guthrie Center Lions Club. She earned a bachelor’s degree in management specializing in marketing and finance, with a minor in French, from Simpson College, and graduated from the NRECA Robert I. Kabat Management Internship Program.

Steve Rhodes currently serves as CEO of CHELCO in Florida.  Prior to his arrival at CHELCO in 2013, he held the position of president and CEO at Kosciusko Rural Electric Membership Cooperative in Warsaw, Indiana, for 10 years. Before that, he worked at Midwest Energy Cooperative in Cassopolis, Michigan, as vice president of marketing and customer services, and as president and CEO of Western Michigan Electric Cooperative in Scottville, Michigan.

Rhodes recently served as chairman of the Touchstone Energy® Cooperatives Board of Directors, the national branding organization representing for the nation’s electric cooperatives. He is a member of the PowerSouth (G&T) Board of Trustees and Southeastern Data Cooperative (SEDC) Board of Directors, and holds a seat on the executive committee of the Okaloosa County (FL) Economic Development Council. 

Rhodes received an M.B.A. from the University of Toledo Graduate School of Business and bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Toledo.

Jeremy Diller has been a member of Bandera Electric Cooperative since 2010 and currently serves on its board of directors. He previously served two terms as a county commissioner in Indiana, as the director of risk management at Indiana Wesleyan University and held the same role more recently for the Texas Association of Public Schools.

After earning a bachelor’s degree in political science from Wheaton College, Diller went on to earn an master’s degree in ministry and an M.B.A. from Indiana Wesleyan University.  

John Klatt started in the industry working for Amery Telecom in 1981. He worked at Amery until 1988, when he was hired as general manager of Cochrane Telephone Cooperative. In 1989, he was hired as general manager of Luck Telephone Company in Luck, Wisconsin. In 1995, Luck Telephone Company and five local, independent telephone companies purchased a regional cable television company. Klatt managed that initiative and served as president of the resulting company’s board of directors, Vision Communications, LLC. In response to the Telecommunications Rewrite Act of 1996, Luck Telephone Company and Milltown Mutual Telephone Company merged to form Lakeland Communications, Inc. Klatt was promoted to the board of directors and became president of the board of directors and CEO of Lakeland Communications in 1997. He currently serves in those capacities today.

Klatt was elected to the RTFC Board of Directors in 2021 and served as chairman in 2023. He is also a former board member of NTCA – The Rural Broadband Association and served as president of NTCA’s Board of Directors in 2018. In 2007, Klatt was awarded the NTCA Life Achievement Manager Award. He is also a board member of Rural Trust Insurance Company. Klatt obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in general business administration from the University of Wisconsin-Stout.

After serving as president of the Inland Power and Light Co. (WA) Board of Trustees, Kristina Bahr now holds an at-large position on her cooperative’s board. An NRECA Credentialed Cooperative Director, she previously served as president of the Washington Rural Electric Cooperative Association (statewide) Board of Directors. 

In addition to her cooperative duties, Bahr has worked as a commercial insurance underwriter, a residential real estate agent, and former co-owner and manager of a dryland wheat and barley farm operation. She earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration/finance from Washington State University and achieved a CPCU from the American Institute of Chartered Property Casualty Underwriters.

Deb Erickson has served as a director with Minnesota Valley Electric Cooperative, based in Jordan, Minnesota, since 2010 and currently represents her cooperative on the Minnesota Rural Electric Association (statewide) Board of Directors, where she is a member of the Resolutions Committee and serves as a Rural Electric Political Action Committee trustee.

A financial adviser with Market Financial since 2003, she was appointed by Gov. Tim Pawlenty to serve as the 2nd Congressional District representative on the Minnesota Compensation Council (2009–2013). In addition, she has been a Rotarian since 2003 and has held posts as club president, secretary, membership chair and on the District 5950 Leadership Team.

Erickson received an associate degree in business marketing from Ridgewater College and attended the Southwest State University CAP program in business management.

Pat Hargadon is the chair of the board of Shelby Energy Cooperative in Shelbyville, Kentucky, and has served on the board since 2012. Hargadon has been an insurance agent with Kentucky Farm Bureau since 1986 and has served as agency manager in Shelby County since 2000. He is also the president of Hargadon Farms LLC.

Hargadon serves as chair of the Shelby County Industrial Foundation, chair of the U.S. 60 Water District, chair of the University of Louisville Shelbyville Hospital, member of the Traditional Bank Advisory Board, member and former president of the Shelby County Chamber of Commerce, was the former vice chair of Citizens Union Bank and is executive board member of the Lincoln Heritage Council Boy Scouts of America.

Hargadon is a 1998 graduate of Leadership Kentucky, a 2001 graduate of the Kentucky Ag Leaders Program, sponsored by the University of Kentucky, and earned NRECA’s Director Gold credential.

Steven A. Harmon is the president and CEO of Community Electric Cooperative in Windsor, Virginia, as well as the CEO of the cooperative’s for-profit subsidiary, RECORE, LLC. Harmon has more than 40 years of experience in the power industry, beginning his career as an apprentice lineman, then journeyman lineman and advancing through various managerial roles to the helm of Community Electric.

Harmon is on the board of directors for Old Dominion Electric Cooperative. He has chaired the Human Resources Committee and served on other committees for the generation and transmission cooperative. He is also a board member of the Virginia, Maryland and Delaware Association of Electric Cooperatives. Prior to those positions, his experience includes membership on the boards of Power South Energy Cooperative, the Alabama Rural Electric Association, United Utility Supply and the Alabama Rural Electric Federal Credit Union. He also was a founding member of the Electric Cooperative Health Insurance Pool and serves on the NRECA Training and Education Department CEO Advisory Group.

Harmon holds a bachelor degree in business administration from Bryan College and an M.B.A. from Auburn University at Montgomery.

Allen R. Hoopes has over 37 years of experience in both broadband and mobile wireless industry and is the board chairman and chief executive officer of Silver Star Communications (Silver Star), a rural broadband and mobile wireless company headquartered in Freedom, Wyoming.

Silver Star provides gigabit speed broadband services and 5G mobile wireless to western Wyoming, including the communities of Star Valley, Afton and Jackson. Silver Star also provides broadband services in eastern Idaho in the communities of Ammon, Boise, Idaho Falls, Driggs, Rexburg and Victor.

Hoopes has served in numerous board roles during his career in telecommunications. Hoopes was a past chairman and board of director of NTCA – The Rural Broadband Association, which is a national organization providing legislative support and advocacy for rural broadband provider members in all 50 states.

Hoopes also served for six years as a board member on the governor appointed Wyoming Business Council from 2015 to 2021. The council provides economic development and loan assistance to encourage business growth and relocation to Wyoming to support economic and employment growth.

Hoopes is a graduate of Brigham Young University with a Bachelor of Science in finance and marketing.

Fred Johnson has served as the chief executive officer of the Farmers Telecommunications Cooperative, Inc., in Rainsville, Alabama, since 2002. His career spans 42 years in the rural telecommunications, rural electrification and public accounting fields. He is active in the Broadband Association of Alabama & Mississippi and in NTCA – The Rural Broadband Association. Johnson served on the board of NTCA for nine years, including a term as chairman. He currently serves on the Alabama 9-1-1 board, which oversees the funding of emergency communication districts within Alabama. Johnson joins the NCSC board as a former director of RTFC.

Johnson is a CPA with an undergraduate degree in accounting and business administration from Southern Wesleyan University and an MBA from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.  He is currently midway towards earning a doctorate in business administration.

Tyson Littau is the CEO and general manager of Northwestern Electric Cooperative in Oklahoma. He is also a member of the NRECA Region 8 Legislative Standing Committee and Western Farmers Electric Cooperative. He is the vice president of the Oklahoma Association of Electric Cooperatives and chairs the statewide’s Endowment Committee. Littau holds a B.S. in business administration with an emphasis on finance and minors in accounting, economics and international business from Oklahoma State University. He is also a graduate of the NRECA Robert I. Kabat Management Internship Program.

Jason Miller is the vice president, treasurer and general manager of Delhi Telephone Company, Inc. and DTC Cable, Inc. (DTC). Miller has been employed by DTC since May 2008 and has held various roles over the past 15 years, becoming the general manager in 2013. DTC currently maintains several business lines: local telephone, long distance, internet, television, security and IT consulting. DTC employs over 40 people and provides services to over 6,000 customers.

DTC has partnered with Margaretville Telephone Company and the Delaware County Electric Cooperative, Inc. for the Delaware County Broadband Initiative since 2015. DTC has also participated in multiple phases of the NY Broadband Grant Program, building broadband for large sections of Delaware County.

Miller is on the board of directors of the New York State Telecommunications Association, Inc. (NYSTA) and is the chairman of the NYSTA Government Affairs Committee. He is also a member of the NTCA Government Affairs Committee and the NTCA Rural Broadband PAC. Miller has a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Syracuse University and an MBA from Binghamton University.

Bruce W. Mueller is the CEO and general manager of Wheatland Electric Cooperative in Kansas. He joined the cooperative in 2012 and is responsible for directing the overall operations. Before joining Wheatland, he worked in the electric utility industry at Central Power and Light (now American Electric Power) for 18 years and San Bernard Electric Cooperative in Texas for 10 years in executive management roles. He holds a B.B.A. in finance from Texas State University and an M.B.A. in management from the University of Houston–Victoria. He is a graduate of NRECA’s Robert I. Kabat Management Internship Program. Mueller is on the board of Sunflower Electric Power Corporation and is an alternate board member for Kansas Electric Cooperatives.

Toney Prather is the owner and president of Totelcom Communications, located in De Leon, Texas, and its various affiliates. He has spent almost 50 years in service to the rural telecommunications industry and has previously served as the commercial company adviser to the NTCA Board of Directors, as a director and past president of TTA and as a director and past president of TSTCI.

Prather has spent 33 years on the NTCA Group Health Trust Committee and the last 17 as chair, where he oversees health, dental, vision and life insurance programs for over 40,000 lives. He is also a shareholder and director of F&M Bancshares, where he serves as the chair of the Asset/Liability Committee, and serves on several other real estate and business boards. Prather is also active in many local civic and charitable groups.

Nelson Smith is chairman of the board of The Energy Cooperative in Newark, Ohio. Smith has been on the board since 2003 and has been chairman since 2010. He also serves on the board of Federated Rural Electric Insurance Exchange and has been the township trustee of Washington Township in Utica, Ohio, for the past eight years.

Previously, Smith published three weekly newspapers, was a county real estate appraiser, was the director of the local Red Cross and was the part owner of Chapel Hill Golf Course in Mount Vernon, Ohio. He also served in the U.S. Navy, with his last tour aboard the USS Enterprise as an air traffic controller.

Smith earned his Credentialed Cooperative Director Certificate, Board Leadership Certificate and Director Gold credential from NRECA.