5.2. ERMUSR 09-08-2015 - Laserfiche WebLink

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0 Dear Valued Members of the American Public Power Association: T his year, the American Public Power Association(APPA)is celebrating its 75th an- niversary.We are proud of APPAs strong record of advocacy and member service. APPA members are community-owned, not-for-profit utilities, not controlled by remote shareholders or corporate interests.APPA members provide safe, reliable, affordable electricity,with appropriate environmental stewardship, to their communities,be they towns of fewer than 100 customers or cities of close to one and a half million customers.We have dedicated leaders and employees,with a passion to do what is best for their communities. This is a great foundation to build on for the future. But we must work to keep this advantage to benefit our customers,especially in the face of the changes our industry is experiencing. For this reason,APPA in late 2014 undertook a strategic planning process. Following is the strategic plan resulting from that effort. The APPA Board of Directors, the Executive Committee, and a combined Board/staff Strate- gic Planning Steering Committee(comprising Paula DiFonzo, Doug Hunter, and Ron Davis of the Board and Joy Ditto, Mike Hyland, and Jeff Haas of the staff,with Sue Kelly serving in an advisory capacity)provided invaluable input into the plan as it was developed over the last six months. Other APPA members,fellow trade association representatives,key interested parties (including government officials), and APPA staff provided feedback and ideas via meetings, interviews and surveys.We also scrutinized a detailed member survey that APPA conducted in 2013. Finally,we had the benefit of the expertise of a strategic planning consultant,Julie Ryan of Aether Advisors,who helped guide us through this process. The information we gathered reaffirmed that APPA is a strong organization,with able and dedi- cated employees and a full array of advocacy, education, and information services and programs. APPA is well known and well respected both inside and outside the Beltway. At the same time, the electric utility industry is changing,due primarily to four factors: 1)evolv- ing customer preferences; 2)new technologies; 3) increased government regulation; and 4)utili- ty workforce issues.While the first three of these factors are external to our industry, the fourth is a change on the inside.The electric utility industry has the highest percentage of baby boomers of almost any industry in the U.S. economy, and public power's workforce is no exception. 2 American Public Power Association 107