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Rensselaer, Indiana: Jasper County REMC has named its new CEO. Information Technology System Administrator Jon Rich will replace Bryan Washburn, who is retiring in July.
For the last four months, the REMC’s seven-member board of directors has been working to fill the co-op’s top spot. Search consultant Ken Holmes of Holmes Executive Search assisted in the process. “The board was very thorough in its process to find the right candidates and make the right decision for the cooperative and its members,” Holmes said.
Rich was hired into the Rensselaer-based co-op’s billing department in 2004. Shortly thereafter, he moved into a newly created IT position to design and implement an IT management plan to put, and keep, Jasper County REMC at the leading edge of technology. Rich has been on the co-op’s management team for 10 years, helping each department maximize technology use to ultimately benefit the membership.
Along with the normal system administrator duties, he has taken on roles in project management, metering technology, network security, substation communications, server virtualization, automated phone calls, and implemented an electronic boardroom and mobile workforce.
Though a nationwide search was conducted, Jasper County REMC Board President Kerry Miller said, “We are proud that the most qualified candidate came from within our own workforce. That is a testament to the caliber of employees we have on staff.”
A graduate of Saint Joseph’s College in Rensselaer, Rich holds a Bachelor of Science degree in computer science with a minor in management. Prior to college, Rich worked as a Navy submariner and hospital corpsman for four years. He has served as vice president and president of his IT peer group organized by Indiana Electric Cooperatives, the co-op’s statewide service association.
“Jon is invested in our communities and our cooperative,” Washburn said. “I have no doubt that he will lead the cooperative well, explore broadband options for the membership, and keep the lights on for you.”
Jasper County REMC was formed in 1938 and is a not-for-profit electric distribution cooperative. It serves over 9,296 meters across 1,200 miles of line in northwest Indiana ― primarily in Jasper County. A Touchstone Energy cooperative, it focuses on providing its members with reliable electricity and related services at the lowest cost possible.