Each year, WECA honors the best in Wisconsin's rural electric cooperative community with the Ally of Cooperative Electrification (ACE) Award. Past honorees have truly made outstanding contributions to rural electrification in Wisconsin, and we look to find this year's ACE Award winner.
We ask members of the electric cooperatives to pinpoint that person who has made a difference in your co-op, and to our broader cooperative family.
DESCRIPTION
- The ACE Award recognizes outstanding service to Wisconsin’s cooperative electrification program.
- The award recognizes the contributions of outstanding service toward the advancement of the electric cooperative program.
- The ACE is awarded each year to a qualified candidate when selection guidelines are met.
- The ACE Award is presented at the WECA Annual Meeting banquet or at another time deemed appropriate by the WECA board.
- The award shall consist of a suitably engraved plaque bearing the WECA common identification symbol and a brief inscription.
CANDIDATE QUALIFICATIONS
To be considered a candidate for the ACE Award, the following qualifications must be met:
- Must be a living person
- Must have made outstanding contributions to Wisconsin’s electric cooperative program resulting in:
- Bringing about a change
- Advancing the cooperative principles
- Providing ideas or plans for action
- Assuming leadership roles in local, district, and state cooperative programs
- Participation in state governance and functions
- Must have outstanding service resulting in a benefit or advantage to Wisconsin’s electric cooperatives.
- The benefits or advantages may include serving on a state electric committee, the WECA Board, or on an NRECA committee or NRECA Board
- The benefits or advantages may also include participation in education programs, attaining CCD and leadership credits, representing electric cooperatives on local community boards, committees, or organizations, and the advancement of the cooperative program
- All service and contributions must be above and beyond regular routine duties of their position.
- Can be any individual in Wisconsin who has done outstanding work sustaining, enhancing, advancing, and promoting Wisconsin’s electric cooperatives.
NOMINATION PROCEDURES
- An application may be received from the WECA Office by:
- Writing to Wisconsin Electric Cooperative Association at 6405 Century Avenue, Suite 102, Middleton, WI 53562-2200
- Calling Wendy at WECA at (608) 467-4589 (office) or (608) 577-8729 (cell)
- Emailing Wendy Fassbind
- Downloading the form from https://www.weca.coop/
- In order to be fairly evaluated, all applications must have detailed information on the candidate’s accomplishments, service, and contributions. Support letters are strongly recommended.
- Applications can be submitted in hard copy or email and received by Wisconsin Electric Cooperative Association at 6405 Century Avenue, Suite 102, Middleton, WI 53562-2200 by a date publicized by WECA. Applications are given to the selection committee.
- Nominees not selected will remain in the nomination pool for up to three years. After the initial 3-year period, individuals must be re-nominated annually to be considered.
PAST ACE AWARD WINNERS
2020 David Paudler (director—Riverland Energy Cooperative)
2020* Sheldon Petersen (CEO—Cooperative Finance Corporation) “Special ACE Award”
2021 Byron Nolde (manager—Oconto Electric Cooperative)
2022 Marian Trescher (director—Rock Energy Cooperative)
2023 Dallas Sloan (manager—Barron Electric Cooperative)
2024 Lynn Thompson (president and CEO—Eau Claire Energy Cooperative)
2025 Mary Erickson (Associate Editor—Wisconsin Electric Cooperative Association and Wisconsin Energy Cooperative News)
2025 Shane Larson (president and CEO—Rock Energy Cooperative)
2026 Roger Wiff (director—Pierce Pepin Cooperative Services