How one Tennessee electric co-op president and CEO is making a national impact on the industry
Innovation, listening to understand and being member-driven are Mike Partin’s focus as he begins his new role as the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association board of directors president. However, this venture was not on his mind when he started at Sequachee Valley Electric Cooperative 27 years ago.
“It never crossed my mind that I’d be able to be at this place in my career at the national level,” Partin said. “But I am beyond grateful and excited to represent Tennessee on the national stage.”
Farming in the Pelham Valley
When Partin isn’t in a suit and tie, serving America’s electric cooperatives in Washington, D.C., you can find him working on his family’s farm in the Pelham Valley, where he and his wife, Kim, raised their two daughters, Macy and Maty. They attend Montea-gle Church of Christ. Since the 1820s, their family farm has been located at the base of the Cumberland Plateau in Bells Cove where they are in the cattle business.
“Aside from the energy business, family, faith and our farm are what my world spins around,” Partin said.
From politics to cooperatives
Before coming to the cooperative world, Partin served as the county judge executive in Grundy County, making him the youngest at the time to hold this role in the state of Tennessee. In 1998, he began his career with SVEC as vice president of marketing and member services. He then took on the role as the chief operating officer before being named the president and chief executive officer of the cooperative in 2015.
“Day to day for me, I’ve just got a fantastic team that are always forward thinking and progressive,” Partin said. “It’s easy to manage when you’ve got a team that’s willing to take on any challenge.”
SVEC is headquartered in South Pittsburg and maintains 3,250 miles of electricity lines, supplies fiber access and is the only co-op in the Volunteer State that has a full-service propane business. While Partin finds great joy serving those 38,841 members, his impact is about to be far greater.
Leading with passion
Marking the first president in almost 30 years from Tennessee, Partin took office in March at the NRECA PowerXchange in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s the trade organization’s annual meeting — where insights, ideas and connections converge. This type of networking and purpose is what led Partin to the electric cooperative world almost three decades ago.
“I’m honored to be named the national president for NRECA,” Partin said. “Being involved with different co-ops across the country, recognizing the changes that are happening and being a part of the innovations taking place are things I find exciting and take great pride in.”
Partin has always had the calling to be involved with leadership from a young age. A quality that was instilled in him during his time as part of the Grundy County FFA Chapter. Now, he aspires to be on the cutting edge of where things are taking place. He isn’t one you will find sitting in the back of the meeting room, especially when it comes to electricity and cooperative members.
“It’s an exciting time to be in the business,” Partin said. “The electric industry is my passion. I have spent my career dedicated to the innovation of this industry, and to have a leadership position during such a period of transition is thrilling.”
“We’ve got the talent, the ability and the 80-year history of being that driver in communities. If we don’t, then who will? If not now, then when?”
Innovation, listening and members
NRECA represents electric cooperatives across the nation. The board of 48 director representatives from across the country works to promote, support and protect the community and business interests of electric cooperatives. As NRECA board president, Partin will be working in tandem with the national leadership team and CEO Jim Matheson. Their job is to make sure the mission of affordability, reliability and responsibility is carried out, while at the same time making the industry the best it can be.
“We’re the drivers of innovation in the communities we serve,” Partin said. “If you look at who we serve and where we serve, nobody else had the bandwidth to be a driver of innovation like America’s electric co-ops. We’ve got the talent, the ability and the 80-year history of being that driver in communities. If we don’t, then who will? If not now, then when?”
As president, Partin will be traveling around the country to different statewide organizations and discussing the agenda America’s electric cooperatives have in store, but, most importantly, he will be listening to what members, policy makers and stakeholders have to say.
“I want to listen to what the folks are saying because the issues in Idaho are not the same issues that members have in Georgia,” Partin said. “It’s not a cookie-cutter approach for NRECA, with 900 members around the country. Part of what my mission will be is to listen with understanding to the members who depend on us and try to give them the help and the information they need from the national association.”
Throughout Partin’s two-year term, he wants to serve with the motive that things can and have to get better. Above all, though, he wants to be member-focused and member-driven.
“It’s an honor to serve,” Partin said. “We represent 42 million consumers, and we have to remember that in every decision we make or every initiative we push, it doesn’t just affect us. It affects the members we serve.”
