Board Governance

Like your public power peers, you must map out your utility’s future through a rocky terrain. But you don’t have much time or the budget to commit to an elaborate endeavor. That’s why Hometown Connections has perfected a simple technique for evaluating your operations and determining your priorities and goals for the next five years. Our facilitators will lead your team through a process to assist you in solidifying a clear and unified future direction for your utility.

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Following a distinguished career that saw him rise from a city engineer in Ohio to helm the nation’s largest public power joint action agency (JAA), Marc Gerken has joined the staff of Hometown Connections, Inc. He retired recently after serving for twenty years as president and chief executive officer of American Municipal Power, Inc. (AMP), one of the six joint action agencies that co-own Hometown Connections. Prior to his retirement from AMP, Mr. Gerken served as AMP’s representative on the Hometown Connections Board of Directors. His position on the Hometown staff is Executive Advisor/Strategy and JAA Relations.

Read More about Industry Veteran Marc Gerken Brings Expertise in Public Power Business Operations to Hometown Connections Staff »

We know this a stressful and critical time for all Public Utilities and their customers. This pandemic hits home for every one of us, and we are dedicated to working together to help public utility communities recover and move forward.

While we have all been focused on managing during COVID-19 developments, assessing future business scenarios is essential. When will normal operations return? What are the implications of this uncertainty to customers, staff, operations and future projects/initiatives?

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Formed in 1889, ALP Utilities in Alexandria, Minnesota is among the oldest electric utilities in the nation and well known today for delivering excellent electric, water, and business communications services. Yet, the organization faces many of the same infrastructure, financial, customer engagement, energy resources, and workforce issues as utilities across the U.S. As a new general manager determined to unify his board and staff on the future direction of ALP Utilities, Ted Cash launched in 2019 a five-year strategic planning process. He and his public power peers at Provo Power and the Kentucky Municipal Energy Agency chose as their strategic plan facilitator Hometown Connections, Inc., the non-profit utility services organization specializing in the unique challenges facing community-owned utilities.

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A highly-recognized specialist in utility change management, Charise M. Swanson has joined the staff of Hometown Connections, Inc., as Vice President of Client Services.

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