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NEW ORLEANS, LA., February 17, 2009 – The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) today bestows the Clyde T. Ellis award on Wally Beyer, Rural Utility Service (RUS) Administrator under President Clinton and former general manager of Verendrye Electric Cooperative in Velva, South Dakota., for his dedication and contributions to the electric cooperative program.
The Ellis Award, which memorializes NRECA's first general manager (CEO), is conferred by the NRECA Board of Directors to honor an individual for contributions clearly above and beyond the routine call of duty in furthering the principles and progress of rural electrification and the development and utilization of national resources.
"With his knowledge of the industry, negotiating skills and willingness to make tough choices, Wally Beyer helped steer the cooperative program through difficult and challenging times," said Jack Wolfe, President of NRECA’s Board of Directors.
In the words of Verendrye’s current general manager, Bruce Carlson, Beyer “taught us all that cooperative employees, as hired hands for the members, must do more than just provide electrical power."His achievements show that he lived up to his own principles.
In addition to running the North Dakota cooperative from 1968, five years after he had come on board as an operations engineer, to 1993, Beyer organized the North Prairie Rural Water Association to provide water to 1,400 residents.He also worked to help low-income residents both build homes and make their existing homes more efficient.
At the national level, Beyer contributed time and energy to the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association. Following the termination of the Rural Electrification Administration by the Nixon Administration, Beyer served on NRECA’s Finance Advisory Committee, as it worked to restore the federal program.
In 1993, Beyer accepted the request by President Clinton to serve as Rural Utility Service (RUS) Administrator. Without fanfare, Beyer proceeded to make a number of changes that wouldensure the program could fulfill its mission.
In cooperation with Secretary Mike Espy, Beyer reorganized to the RUS and improved coordination of funding for electric, telecommunications and water projects.Under his leadership, RUS began offering hardship, municipal rate and treasury rate loans to the nation’s cooperatives.Beyer also worked to clear up troubled G&T loans that had accumulated during the 1980s, working closely with the National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corporation and RUS to fashion practical solutions.
Even as Beyer was fixing troubles that had occurred in the past, he kept his eye on the future.As a founding member of Basin Electric Power Supply Cooperative, he strongly advocated for the purchase and development of the Dakota Coal Gasification project.Beyer developed and managed two wind energy sites, which are soon to be home to a 115 MW wind farm.He also participated on a demonstration project with North Dakota State University to develop a diesel engine that used a blend of sunflower oil and diesel fuel.
"I can think of no more deserving individual," said Sheldon Petersen, CEO and Governor of the National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corporation.
The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association is the national service organization that represents the nation’s more than 900 private, not-for-profit, consumer-owned electric cooperatives, which provide service to 42 million people in 47 states.
More than 9,000 representatives from cooperative electric utilities across the nation are attending the NRECA Annual Meeting, February 15-18, at the New Orleans Convention Center, during which they will set NRECA’s legislative and organizational agenda for 2009. In addition to considering and acting upon policy resolutions, delegates receive reports from NRECA officials, hear addresses by key public figures and business experts, and attend panel sessions on major issues affecting electric cooperatives and their consumer owners.
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