CEO’s Message – May 2025

Forging the Co-op Chain

Laughter cascaded out of the room and down the hall, followed by excited chatter and more laughter. “Man, these folks are having a good time,” I thought. The pattern continued for 3 days—laughter, excited exchanges, and more laughter.

I took an opportunity to engage with this merry group. Its facilitator introduced me as a special guest, but I quickly assured the members that they were making me feel special from all the good vibes flowing throughout the building. I also said something to the effect of, “We’ve had a lot of people here in the past few months, but you, by far, are the most fun and energetic.” They wholeheartedly agreed. Then we sang “Happy Birthday” to Sylvia Cruz, who had arranged the gathering.

Sylvia, for those who may not know her, is Grand Canyon State Electric Cooperative Association’s (GCSECA) member engagement and professional development specialist. She’s been with us going on 2 years. As a former public school teacher, Sylvia has done an excellent job creating and executing training and professional development opportunities for our members.

The group that set the benchmark for fun was comprised of administrative professionals from Arizona’s co-ops, electric districts, and tribal utility authorities who make up GCSECA’s membership. Despite the enjoyment of the session, they engaged in 2 1/2 days of intensive training and programming, aimed at helping them perform better for their organizations.

Sylvia has facilitated similar events for different disciplines, including accounting and finance, supervisory and management training, human resources, co-op board leadership and governance, learning management system mastery, IT training, National Information Solutions Cooperative, and National Electrical Code training. These are in addition to 2 communicators’ conferences, our Annual Meeting, Legislative Conference, and Summer Meeting, which offer a boatload of additional content.

In addition to formal training and professional development events, GCSECA has 5 standing committees: Legislative and Government Relations, Education and Professional Development, Member and Public Relations, Group Purchasing, and Loss Control. In addition are several ad hoc committees: Finance and Accounting, Human Resources, IT, Wildfire, and the Arizona Corporation Commission Working Group that meet regularly.

Education, Training and Information is 1 of the 7 Cooperative Principles. It’s become a staple here at GCSECA. It is gratifying to see how much stronger this aspect of the statewide has become over the past few years.

Becoming better at what we do and sharing valuable information and ideas are obvious benefits to these activities. But even more so are the opportunities they present for our members to meet each other, become friends, form personal and professional bonds, and network. In my mind, we’re forging the co-op chain, link by link, making it stronger and stronger through these various endeavors.

I often use this metaphor when speaking at our members’ board and annual meetings. We as co-ops— and by extension, representatives of Arizona’s public power community—are only as strong as our weakest link. To me, the relationship building that happens during all of this activity is equally, if not more, important than all the knowledge gained.

Dave Lock
CEO