Wired for Change: Marshall Cherry is Empowering Rural Communities

SPEAKER_01: Marshall, thank you for joining me today. SPEAKER_00: Well, thank you for having me, Steve. I'm very honored to be here with you today. SPEAKER_01: Absolutely, man.

I appreciate you. Before we get started, tell listeners a little bit about Marshall Cherry. SPEAKER_00: Well, you know, Marshall Cherry, uh certainly, you know, what's interesting, Steve, is the whole community aspect, as you just mentioned, goes very deep all the way back to my younger days, connected to Ronald Cooperative back in when I was in high school attending events, particularly camps and things like that. So really appreciative of those.

But, you know, right here, born and raised, I'm honored to serve the very cooperative where my parents are actually member owners of the co-op from rural northeastern North Carolina, small town called Lewis and Woodville, North Carolina, in Berthe County. And just over time, after you know, spending some time going off to school, and of course, uh a little bit of you know experience in the military as well, very honored to have had the opportunity to join this team here at Bruno.

And of course, that journey has really led to just a lot of experiential learning, leaning in to the work, being focused on the community, and and here we are today. And so I'm I'm very honored, obviously, to be in this role, to serve this very community where so many people uh I know based on the fact I grew up grew up here. My parents were very active, uh, particularly in Bertie County. I'm on a lot of different levels.

And here in Herford County, we have a lot of footprint here in Northampton County, certainly a lot of connections there, Halifax County. So I've just really been involved in some level in just about every county, Gates County is another that we serve here in Northeast North Carolina. But but just you know, rural beginnings and looking forward to just continuing this work to finish out making impact and leaving a legacy that will show some kinds of growth here in an area that is is somewhat economically challenged.

SPEAKER_01: Knowing you as a leader, you definitely will leave an impact, there's no doubt in my mind. So let's let's hop right in, man. So you've been with Roanoke north or south of 30 years, is that correct? SPEAKER_00: As a matter of fact, right at 32, just uh celebrated my 32nd anniversary working here a couple months ago.

SPEAKER_01: Awesome, man. Well, congratulations on with that. What key experiences, pivotal moments or challenges over that 32-year period have shaped your leadership philosophy during your progression now as CEO leading the co-op? SPEAKER_00: Yeah.

So from a challenges standpoint, I mentioned in my introduction, we're we're here in Northeastern North Carolina, and yes, we're one of the most economically distressed regions, definitely in the state of North Carolina, and we compare against several throughout the country. And that in and of itself really brings about the empathy that we bring to the work to just really work toward bringing solutions, making investments that will lead towards some level of sustainability in the future of serving in this region.

And I'm really glad to see some of the opportunities of discussions we're having now. But but from a leadership standpoint, defining moments, and I've I've held many roles here at Run Oak over time, but simply, again, leaning in and learning the business and honored to have been appointed as the chief operating officer back in 2014. And of course, you know, I've been the CEO now almost four years at the end of this year. But that was that gave me kind of a front row seat uh to the operational challenges and opportunities that we have to innovate as an entity and organization.

And so I learned a lot during those times, particularly with crises. And of course, we all at your co-op, we deal with storms, particularly here on the East Coast, as well as some of the work we were doing around some large infrastructure projects that really kind of fell under my watch in terms of the measurement and the impact and how we would cascade all of that messaging out to our employees. And so we when you know you see how vital it is to be steady and collaborative and community-minded, it kind of speaks for itself.

And so over time, my leadership philosophy is really centered on just being values-driven and obviously being transparent and being focused on long-term impact, not just the short-term wins, but we do celebrate those wins, but but we also understand that it's certainly uh a marathon and not a sprint. SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's great. And I'm going one question and I go off script, right? So tell me what kind of impact, what kind of influence Curtis win, your former CEO, your former boss.

Tell me what kind of influence Curtis had on you. SPEAKER_00: Yes. Actually, yeah, you're that's a great question. And Curtis really was a major influence uh in my journey from my early days.

I don't think many people know this, but I was actually on the team at Roanoke when Curtis joined back in 1997. So I had been here for about four years, almost five, when he joined. And uh from day one of our relationship, I think he saw a lot in me in terms of potential, and particularly the focus and and the situativeness around projects. And so I'm really grateful as he and I journeyed together for some of the opportunities where I had to was where I was challenged to expand and really start leading more because in in my early days at Run Up, it was obviously communications is a is a very major focus.

And some of the work we were doing that was external, facing the nature, energy audits, things like that, those are some of the things I was, you know, certainly I was doing back in those days to engage and just meet solutions wherever with the member owner. And then Curtis kind of helped me really expand in the work that I had structured foundationally for myself, but to allow it to start cascading with others that were that were under my watch. And so it kind of grew into you know leading some of a lot of our uh member-facing functions.

You know, you you get billing, member services, collections, just run the gamut. And then I think years after that, of course, you know, I see kind of fell under my watch. HR has been on my under my watch as well. Certainly economic development, which is very crucial to the work that we do here at Run of, but certainly watching him as well and the work that he was able to do on a national stage to bring exposure and some of the things that we were able to work on together to bring even stakeholders to the table to support our work.

So, yes, Curtis certainly has had a major influence on my career trajectory, and I'm you know certainly grateful for the opportunity to have partnered with him for so many years and looking forward to the legacy that we've we've built together. Um, now of course that I'm at the helm, really what I've been kind of focusing on is that foundation of the work, but continuing to build upon it because certainly it's it's a work that's certainly undone, but we've done a lot of great things together, and certainly there's more to it, the work that we've established and built together.

So I'm very, very grateful for those opportunities of work with Curtis and certainly those his ability to you know really engage communities and engage stakeholders. I'm always I always admired him for that, and that's certainly something that I've worked toward bringing to the table here because I do see the importance of it as we continue to build on the work that we've established here at Ronald. SPEAKER_01: You mentioned something about Curtis, about bringing national exposure.

Curtis Curtis served on you know on national boards, served as actually the president of uh of the electric cooperative trade association. NRCA. And you have followed and continued at legacy to serve in legacy roles and being a member of multiple trade and boards, whether it's at the AY level with electric cooperative or organizations like NRTA or even communication, organizations like INER utility resources with cooperative with marketing and communication efforts. The question is how do you balance the mission of your local cooperative with the broader and more regional or even national perspective of those organizations?

SPEAKER_00: That's a great question. And for me, Steve, and I kind of saw this in Curtis as well, certainly it is great to receive the the recognition for the work that we're doing here locally in our regions on national stages. I know for me personally, it it really is all about staying grounded in purpose, going back to your question, whether it's sitting in any board meeting, whether it's with Pioneer or the work we're doing in Raleigh or locally here with chambers of commerce, economic development commissions, my the question for me at the end of the day is always is how does this ultimately serve our memoir owners back home?

Because the very people who who we're really trying, where we're trying to win, are the very people that we serve. The challenge here at Roanoke, I'll just be up front. It can be a little different, you know, when it comes to the the demographics of the service territory. This is an area of a region that is just not growing.

And so, and I get it, there are a lot of, let's just say, systems across the country where it's organic. And there may very well be something foundational there that brings growth to that region. And of course, serving in any electric utility, growth is key and it's crucial if you're really trying to continue to develop and build on things that you're doing. And so, you know, we're the only electric cooperative in the state of North Carolina that actually experienced less than 0% growth in the last 10 years.

And of course, we have the lowest density as well among you know meters for every mile of line and investment among all the electric cooperatives in the state. So for me, it's really a pat it's a mission, it's a calling. It's it's more to it than just sitting in the meetings. It's it's really about gleaning what we can from dumb meetings that we can bring back home.

And so that that level of exposure, and I know it did the same for Curtis, but certainly me as well. Just you're able to, the more you're able to engage with others, and you in this network that we have um across the country, there's so many peers and colleagues. Uh, we all learn from each other. And of course, Roanoke has been a pioneer in a lot of things, but Roanoke also has learned a lot by by building a network of people who can undergurge the work we're trying to do here at Roanoke.

And so I'm very grateful for that. But but that's to me at the end of the day, is about how do we really bring that voice back to everything we learned in the form of a voice for rural North Carolina and bridging between some realities that we face and the larger eco energy ecosystem that we see across the country. So that's how I stay balanced. Uh that's how I continue to stay balanced, and just a firm believer that that's that is what will help us continue to you know really develop the region that we're trying to, whereas we want to just really improve quality of life here while our member owners and the and the communities that we serve.

SPEAKER_01: So let's talk about the members. That's a great segue. At the heart of any electric cooperative is the member. And I'm curious to get your thoughts on that relationship with the members and how it's evolving in the future of electric cooperative.

How do you stay in tune with your members evolving and changing the other time, especially in your situation rural in rural communities, maybe economically talented areas? How do you stay in tune with it? And how do you ensure that their voices are represented when you guys are making leadership decisions as a staff and ultimately taking them to the board for approval? SPEAKER_00: Yeah.

Yeah, and you know, it's interesting, Steve. Great question again. This answer is going to sound very simple for this, but it's a lot packed into it, and I'll certainly expand on it. But the key word is just listening, right, to your membership.

And for us, you know what one of the things that I learned, and I know you're a communicator by profession as well. When we when I was the chief operating officer at Rona, and again, we were one of my tasks was really leading our corporate strategy. And we we were practitioners of the strategy, strategy execution system that was kind of developed or managed by the Palladium Group. And we also use the performance dollar scorecard to help us measure success.

But one of the things that was very crucial is the fact that you have to go wide and deep when it comes to your communications. And I know you get this. You can't just uh really lean on just one channel of communication, no matter how much that frequency is. Let's just say you may very well send out a bill suffer six months in a room to all of your member owners, and I can guarantee you that there will be a lot of them who will say, I never saw it, because that is not how I receive information.

So the key is making sure we understand that we have to be multi-channeled in our approach, but then also be frequent as we are multi-channel. And one of the things, especially going back to that listening aspect, and we've we brought them back here at Roanoke, the pandemic actually slowed us down on some of the face-to-face work, and we took a pause, and of course, we were doing a lot of this when our chief operating officer Curtis was here. But but it's very important that we do this is that we have the face-to-face opportunities to speak with our memory owners.

Now, granted, I get it, we we know that 100% of our memories are not coming to a town hall forum to listen to us, but but neither do we get the same at an annual meeting. And the same thing about that bill stuffer, we know some people did read it. But we just have to be multi-channeled in our approach. And we do surveys and we do pay attention to the verbatim comments that come back from surveys and try to and make sure that we're reaching back out to the member owners, even if it's something that we can't change right away, because we all get it.

Uh rate costs is big, it's a major part, particularly here in an area like Run up. But if we have opportunities to at least kind of unpack what what all is involved with the cost and the value of things that actually come with it, i.e. our broadband initiative, and I'm sure we're gonna talk about that here shortly.

But those that was another example of how we actually listen to our member owners. And so just really overall listening to the member owners and making sure that we're able to develop strategies around that, but communicate, communicate, communicate is very important. SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we're gonna get to the broadband thing because that that is something that you guys have tackled and are tackling, and and I think it's it's just amazing. Last question concerning the the member engagement.

What does modern member engagement look like in today's, and I'll just say it, ever-changing energy landscape. What does it look like to you? SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's definitely more dynamic. That that whole seven by seven model, um, I think when I say go wide and deep, just is communicate seven times, seven different ways.

That's that's the mantra coming out of strategy execution. But certainly we all get it. We're in a digital world now, very dynamic from that standpoint. We're not just only sending out newsletters that are printed, but it's that's but it still has its place because there's there's a population who accepts that level of communication.

But text messaging now certainly is huge and and social media, we we all know the value there, and we all understand somewhat somewhat of the feast of family that goes with that as well, as well as mobile apps to meet people where they are. I was just actually I'm just coming back from attending a conference last week, and I was very intrigued by listening to our existing enterprise system provider talk about some of the work that they're starting to develop around, let's just say, uh some bots and being able to incorporate some AI into communications that we will have or engagement we will have with the member owner.

I get it. Every person, every member owner of ours, and I'm that person sometimes. I don't personally feel like every time I need to call in and talk to somebody about a matter, if there's a way that we're through some type of messaging system, whereas you you can have your prompts allow me to push, you know, type in my information, sometimes that works for me, versus you know, having to wait to talk to someone personally. So, so yeah, it's just really multifaceted.

We just have to really make sure that we're expanding on how we do that so that we can be effective. But but it's continuing to grow. It's definitely not an easy task because communication never has been an easy task. Because I can guarantee you, whether you're speaking internally from your employees or externally from your membership, in many cases you're going to always hear people say they want more communication.

So it's never ending, but certainly we we get it that we have to make sure that we own our part in ensuring that we're doing everything we can to get that message out. SPEAKER_01: So you mentioned technology. And I want to talk a little bit about that. So technology is transforming how electric utilities produce, manage, and deliver energy.

Rural co-ops, folks-based challenges and exciting opportunities. So with all these rapid shifts and energy technology, how is your co-op leveraging innovation to serve its members better? SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely. Yes, it's interesting.

So going back in my earlier comments, I think I was talking about serving as the chief operating officer and some of the infrastructure projects that we were taking on. And it it the 2010s was was just really a transformational decade of a foundation that we're setting and that we're continuing to build. But but that was a multifaceted, let's just say, technology plan that we implemented, whereas going back to even a statement you just made, in better serving our member owners, we actually uh work toward a a new, well, our second second generation of an advanced leader in the infrastructure investment, which really, again, helps us operationally to do a lot of things, to engage the member to help understand their usage patterns, but also being able to manage outages response and things like that.

Um, we did a uh a full conversion of an LED, outdoor LED conversion. We we took on starting to provide getting access to capital that allowed us to invest in our member owners' homes to help them on some of their consumption because there were so many of our member owners who were marginalized from an energy efficiency financing standpoint. So the cooperative actually took on that investment by by subscribing to this program we called Upgrade and Save. And one of the things we learned even about that program was I know that there are, and I know many people, you know, would certainly challenge the losses and kilowatt hour sales, but the key and all of it was for us was some of the subscribers to a program like that were some of our highest contributors to our peak demand costs.

So the more we can support them, even in peak demand periods, we were seeing some reduction in some of our demand costs that was a savings that also helped stand up our ability to continue to manage the program. And then finally, you know, the big ones, um, we we call them the big four projects. And that fourth one was the work we were trying to do to set the stage for broadband. It's interesting to see broadband has been a topic at Roanoke that we have really just monitored for many years, at least 25 years.

Um we we saw the values, but of course, we we certainly did not be, we did not need to be the business, right? When we were looking at all of this. And so with what happened over time, we realized in order for Roanoke as an organization to be more effective in how it manages these technologies that I just laid out, we had we had to strengthen our communication infrastructure. And so we built out a core network to bring some level of efficiencies to our overall operation.

And so what that did was is it helped us to be more efficient in how we manage roundos. But what was interesting on the back end of that, we also knew that that could set the stage for us to really bring another game changer to our communities in the fact that now we want to start working toward a community like the counties we serve having access to high-speed internet access, like many of their family members in other cities and towns, Raleigh's, the Durham's, the Greensboro, this stuff is second nature to you know their family members.

But then back home with dealing with Dallop, DSL, and things like that. So that really kind of started that whole foundation around the work that led us to making that decision to become basically go ahead and get in the space of delivering broadband service because we saw the need here in our communities. And it was and it's been a part of our growth strategy since I've been the CEO. SPEAKER_01: And that's you know, great segue because that's my next question.

I mean, you answered some of it about broadband. You guys have popped in, and it's it's amazing what you guys have done. You've you know you've hopped in in your area as well as beyond your your service territory. To offer broadband and rural communities, talk a little bit about the process moving forward, so not only was that something from a a strategic for the internal delivery of services for the member, but also potentially moving forward, offering it outside and offering a quality of life development impact with broadband.

Tell folks where you guys are at in the process now, and are you starting to see the impact that this is having on communities? So can you discuss that a little bit? SPEAKER_00: Yeah, a lot of great anecdotes. And you know, Steve, it's very interesting.

My very first year as the CEO. Now, again, mind you, I've already shared with you the economic challenges that we face, right? I mean, certainly, so that means elect energy costs are going to be a significant portion of my membership household budget. But by and large, 90% of the complaints that I received as a CEO in 2022, those questions were, when are you gonna get fiber to my community?

Those are the questions that I field it. By and large, I mean, at my very first year as a CEO. And, you know, those those types of inquiry, some of the demands that even predated my tenure, of course, and Curtis was with us. We did a lot of work to start sourcing to determine the likelihood of individuals wanting to take on the service.

So Fiber, we committed to Fiber in 2022 because we tried other technologies that really were a little less seller than fiber. And also we made the decision, I didn't say this earlier, to stand off our own broadband business because we could not find another entity who would ride the backbone that we had built to deliver the service. So that's almost like the 20, the 1930s, and I know you get this. When when no one else would do it, the co-op did it.

And here's another example. When no one else would do it, the electric co-op did it. SPEAKER_01: Well, and and and let me chime in right there, too. Co-ops, especially co-ops with the innovation mindset also think in their mind that if we partner with somebody to help us, are they gonna do it as good as we can do it?

Even though they're in the business, but are they gonna in the end, not only can they do it as good as we can do it? Not if they do it as good as we can do it, but are they gonna have the same mindset of the member in mind and that if that member a lot of times when you partner outside your walls with someone, there's a there's a lot of risk because you spent years and years and years of that co-op building that reputation, building that relationship with the member. And one maybe one or two bad experiences can really erode that.

So definitely, I definitely know why you guys went the route that y'all did. SPEAKER_00: Yeah. And you're you're so right to that point, Steve, when it comes to others. I mean, because the cooperative DNA, and you get to, it's all about service.

Yes, we have to meet certain financial covenants in order to continue to receive investment opportunities from our funders. But other entities, there are other companies that are in our service territory who have built out another part. Some even built overbuilt us. But what we're finding through surveys is we're we're outperforming incumbent entities by about 10 points when it when it comes to level of satisfaction.

Because again, when people call, they're not waiting, and this is the reality, they're not waiting for someone to get to them in 10 days. And that's that's a reality that many people face with a lot of these companies that are already out there. The level of service is just not at the same level that we will bring as an electric cooperative. So we've seen times where folks would actually call us because they were probably with an incumbent prior to, they get they had a problem.

They told us person they had a problem. If the entity said, Well, we we'll see you in 10 days, they will call us. We're out there the same day, they have service. So, you know, you have that.

And and so, and then other anecdotes, going back to your original question, has has really bowed well as well. And and many, we have a lot of people in our corner who are really uh supportive of it because we see the opportunity to grow the region. And so we've been very grateful for many of the partners along the way and the responses that we receive from the membership of all as well in terms of understanding it. The key now is the education because fiber is future-proof.

It is the the standard when it comes to connectivity, and we get it. Everyone does not really understand that value. So again, it's on us as a co-op, right? As communicators to actually share and continue to educate.

unknown: Yeah. SPEAKER_01: Man, you guys are rocking and rolling with that, man, and that and I just applaud you for that. You mentioned earlier you have been exposed to so much in your years at Roanoke. You've worked across tech.

You've worked across you know, you've worked within and served on nonprofit boards, you've worked in economic development, and that that could be a whole nother uh uh podcast with you, man, because you you've just made just a major impact with economic development and workforce development. And of course you've worked in tech communications, and that's that's just a rare mix. So how do you build a culture where different skill sets and and backgrounds can collaborate effectively?

SPEAKER_00: And that's yeah, that's definitely uh I don't want to call that a challenge. It's a great opportunity, particularly at the cooperative level, because there are, to your point, so many. So many different skill sets, so many different jobs. You you we get it, uh, particularly at election co-ops, you have trade staff who go through some very intentional training for about a good four or five year run to get proficient at the job.

You have internal team members who are trying to make sure that they're at their best when it comes to engaging one with another, but also engaging with our membership. But for me overall, uh I do as much as I can uh to share the purpose with our employees, as well as working toward building trust. And and that's that's intentional effort. I mean, because you know, individuals are who they are, right?

But but the key for me is is I've I've always tried to work from uh just a state of transparency whenever the questions is are asked. I mean, because certainly, yeah, there are a lot of different things that we're dealing with. I mean, when we talk about having a looking to go into vesting. Investing in broadband organizationally and in the culture, Steve is very different.

I mean, because we're talking about a for-profit business now that we're integrating into a legacy electric utility that, you know, has a captive service territory. But really working toward just building trust. And then as we continue to develop, because, you know, again, I'm in at the end of my fourth year here, but I really want to start working on developing next gen leaders here, making sure that we're being a little more customized in how we approach each individual as much as we can on what's next for them.

How do they continue to be more proficient in their roles? How do we prepare them for when you know there may be these opportunities that may come? I'm personally working toward my commitment to our board of directors. I kind of know what my timeline looks like at this seat, and particularly in this role as a CEO.

And I want to make sure that we have some very strong talent and options internally that can really just take what has been built under my watch and continue to build and really take this organization to the next level. But that's but that that doesn't happen by accident. You really have to get focused in on individuals. And it takes some external partners to help as well, because certainly I'm I'm not the workforce development is not easy work.

And I know you get this. And so it takes partnerships, the community colleges, all the entities who specialize, the state of North Carolina through this NC Works program. I mean, it the lift just goes on and on. So it just takes a lot of external support, but also some level of intentionality to ensure that we're giving our employees the resources that they need to be stuff.

Because I'd love to see everyone win as much as we can. SPEAKER_01: I do want to ask you, you mentioned workforce development. The type of employee that Roanoke Electric is looking to hire today is not necessarily the type of employee Roanoke was looking to hire five years ago, ten years ago. I mean that and that goes for all all co-ops.

The just the rapid technology shift. And you've mentioned obviously the economically challenged area. What strategies are you using to attract and prepare the next generation of electric cooperative workers? SPEAKER_00: Yeah.

Yeah. So with our existing team, and I'll and I'm really putting a lot of focus there because you know, my first year in this role and trying to build a team, yes, definitely we we put effort into making sure we can recruit accordingly to to add to the to the team who can help us, you know, continue to move uh things forward. But see, for me, and I know you say the word strategy, but I guess I'll lead with with some core values that are very personal to me. And that's number one is respect.

I think if if we all can can at least get that one down, then then we're that that journey, we're we're very far along in our journey. If we can just learn all, and that's for everyone, America, whatever the case may be, respect. I mean, we're going with when you're different people, you're gonna have different perspectives, and and everything is not gonna be exactly the same. And as a CEO, I really work toward listening as much as I can across the organization, but at some point I'm gonna make an informed decision, and it's not gonna be to everyone's favor, right?

Because if you're dealing with numerous employees, everyone doesn't think the same. So respect. But then this next one is collaboration. And I and I've you know shared this with our employees often, particularly my first year in this role.

I would sign off on a lot of my talks with that. But collaboration, again, respect, lead with that, but also know how to work well with others. And and again, if you're just being respectful in in your overall engagement with another individual, there are perspectives that to that are to be shared, there are some things that can be learned, opportunities for you to grow as an individual. But then that last one for me, which kind of takes it to the employee we're looking for, is curiosity.

Steve, I I love getting challenged by employees with strategic concepts. That's great, man. SPEAKER_01: That's a gem right there, curiosity. SPEAKER_00: Yeah.

Well, I appreciate it, man. I appreciate it. I mean, because for me, let's be honest, and you've been in cooperative cultures as well. I mean, we're we're gonna take care of our employees.

I mean, benefits, comp, things like that. If you see me in the hallway, and if the question is about something that is emerging that could have impact on our organization, you you really have my attention. Because now you're forcing me to think. And I and I really like that because that makes me better uh as the leader of the organization.

So I love curious people. You know, so the questions that are if we you know can change the some of the line of questioning, you know, from things like what are you doing for me as an individual, to how can we grow the organization, then that takes care of everything that's needed for you as an individual. So I just love those types of questions, and I and I'll be challenged to the team to ask those. We you know, we do we meet we meet once a month and we have anonymous QA opportunities where employees can submit questions and I kind of answer them live, and those that are very strategic in nature are those are the one are the ones that really get my attention.

SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's man, that's great. The I've got a I've got a new nugget now, the curiosity nugget. That's I mean, that's great. So let's talk big picture, man.

Next five, ten years. What's your vision for Roanoke Electric? SPEAKER_00: You know, Steve, now that we have really, we're almost finished with this major undertaking of investing in fiber in our service territory. We're about we're about 80% past all of our member owners, and uh, and we should be past every member owner in 2026.

To me, that's a big part of our growth strategy. And we also we are, I did say this earlier, we are working with a partner now to help us continue with those investments. We we still own fiber that we built out, but we we have been able to model a partner to help continue to build further as well as deliver the service to individuals. But the key for us is the fact now that we have connectivity.

We're currently working on our our corporate strategy, and I've already named it Connect 2030. Uh, in the fact that we are, we have gig connected communities now. And there's a lot to be said about that. And and I really want people to understand the value in promoting such that we are gig connected, we have gig, multi-gig connected communities.

So from there, the goal for me is I want to see growth. And we're we're seeing some signs through communications, but but I know that it's gonna take intentional effort to just go to these places to say, hey, we're here. I'll be honest, you know, we we have entertained so many conversations around some of the larger accounts or loads like app centers, you know, that hadn't really brought one on. Nothing at a hyper scale level, but if there's something, you know, on a smaller scale with some good load factor that can help uh us shit uh spread, let's just say the cost of this entire system that we have here with our residential accounts much better, much more affordable than we've been able to do over the past several years.

I'd really appreciate that as well. But I've already shared this with the board of directors to see that I'm already in a mode of development, economic development, business development, whatever you want to call it for this region. And I'm gonna take that up a notch over these next five to make sure that people are aware because there are so many folks who do not know that we we have, I mean, when you think of this region, I have one of the largest, we I serve one of the largest landmass service territories in the state of North Carolina when it comes to the electric co-op.

We just don't have the people here, right? So we have land. We have land. SPEAKER_01: You've got you've got yeah, you've got land that can be developed and can be built on, which is which is something it which is a very valuable asset.

SPEAKER_00: Right. And then shout out, you know, to our team here. Yeah, we have a very reliable electric system. So we have some very reliable electricity here.

And most co-ops, you know, pride themselves on that. We do here as well, that run-up. And then finally, we're we're connected. We we have fiber that that can provide service to large accounts, or hopefully we can start seeing people move back to the region.

We, you know, COVID was a game changer. Many folks are working remotely now. I know, I know personally that we have members, member owners on our system now who depend on this fiber that we built because they said that, yes, I work 100% remote. I need to make sure that this service is always working.

And most of the folks I talk to who have that service, they really enjoy it. But now the key is educating our communities, selling our communities, because that's the key to our success is how do we grow. Some good conversations right now, right? But you know how this stuff goes.

It doesn't just happen overnight. There has to be intentional effort. So that's what I see. I see the future being in our ability to be able to sell more kilowatt hour across these 2,200 miles of electric line that we have to get to get more on our system, been able to sell more in the fact now that we have really done something major that should allow us to recruit um more development here in these counties like Bertie, Hurford, Northampton, and Gates and Alsax Counties.

SPEAKER_01: And you and your staff, and you know, Curtis was obviously involved when he was there, but you guys have done a masterful job at strategically positioning yourself and your area, your community for growth. And, you know, there's something to be said about rural areas that the the quality of life, the cost of living, you know, the price breaker, whatever you want to call it, and if you have that infrastructure in it. You and I have been to many economic development meetings over the years, and you guys have done a masterful job at positioning Roanoke Electric and your area for the future.

So you're definitely to be commended for that. Last question, man. What advice would you give to emerging leaders, especially those who might work in rural spaces or work public service or in the community service type areas? SPEAKER_00: Very brief on this one.

So overall, just stay rooted in purpose. Stay rooted in purpose. You know, rural leadership is not always flashy, but the work is very foundational. Listen deeply, internally, externally, to your stakeholders, continue to build trust and stay committed to the long haul because it is a journey.

It's a marathon, it's not a sprint. But but the impact of of these tenants and and foundational components I just shared, they might not always be immediate. So you may not see the immediate win, but it will be a lasting uh return. So just stay stay committed, continue to grow with the community, stay focused.

SPEAKER_01: Marshall, amazing man. Thank you for joining me today. It's been amazing. SPEAKER_00: I appreciate you.

Thank you so much, Dick, for that one. SPEAKER_01: Yes, sir. And listeners, I didn't say this at the beginning, but when I decided to take on this project to talk to leaders, not just in the electric utility industry, but in but in the community, and just leaders that I have uh been exposed to over my 35 years. Uh Marshall Cherry was one of the first two names.

I can't say that you were number one, but you were one of the first two names that came to my mind. Marshall, and and I didn't go into it. Uh Marshall is a is and has been a wonderful friend, a a peer. The great thing about working in the cooperative world is you're able to pick up the phone.

You're not comp I'm not competing for for customers, members, whatever you want to call them with Marshall. I can pick up the phone and call Marshall and bounce something off him. He can he can do the same and just that that peer network. And over the 35 years that I was in the business, Marshall was one of my best friends.

I mean, honestly, one of my best friends. And I admire him so you know so much. This has been inspirational, it's been an eye-opening conversation. Your commitment to rural innovation, workforce development, and your commitment to being a people first leader is a powerful example of what it's meant to lead with purpose in today's world.

Whether that's with broadband expansion or nurturing the next generation of cooperative leaders or simply listening to the members, your work is a reminder that real impact often begins at the local level with the vision consistency and community at the center. So to our listeners, if today's episode has sparked new ideas or challenged you to think differently, we'd love to hear from you. Be sure to follow the show at blcconsulting lc.com.

Leave a review. But more importantly, share this with someone that might be passionate about leadership, about community development, or even the future of energy. So until next time, I'm Steve Gibson, and this is Big Consulting from the Calcutta, or Leadership Le Authenticity and Innovation Starts with Conversation. Thanks.