The StoryConnect Podcast

NISC merged with longtime competitor Meridian, bringing 1,500 member utilities under one roof. What does that mean for the marketers who rely on their tech? NISC CEO Doug Remboldt joins "StoryConnect" to unpack the platform conversion timeline, new data tools for targeted campaigns and storytelling resources for Utility Pioneers.

What is The StoryConnect Podcast?

StoryConnect features interviews with marketers, communicators, CEOs and other leaders at cooperative and independent broadband companies, electric cooperatives and municipal power providers. The goal of the podcast is to help listeners discover ideas to shape their stories and connect with their customers. It is produced by Pioneer Utility Resources.

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Megan McKoy-Noe:
Data storytelling and the NISC Meridian merger:
what NISC CEO Doug Remboldt wants marketers

to know. That's what we're talking about on this episode of
StoryConnect,

A Pioneer Podcast. I'm your host,
Megan McKoy-Noe, one of the storytellers at Pioneer Utility

Resources, and I am joined by Doug Remboldt,
CEO of the National Information Solutions Cooperative,

known affectionately by all as NISC.

Doug, thank you so much for joining us today.

Doug Remboldt:
Megan. It's an absolute honor and privilege to be here.

I'm so excited to have this conversation.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Well, I'm excited, and I know folks that I've told that I was
going to have this conversation,

they got excited too because there's a lot of change.

And with communicators, we like to know what's happening,
what's coming down the pike,

and that's why we invited you on the podcast.

In August, it all went down, you know,
it was all finalized.

NISC merged with Meridian, a long time cooperative tech
competitor.

And I'm friends with folks on both sides of that,
so it was really interesting to watch it happen.

Now, Meridian's brand has been retired,
and you're leading the combined company under the NISC brand.

Together, y'all now serve a combined 1,500 member utilities with
both the communications and

the public power space, which is really fun.

We serve a lot of telcos as well.

So it's fun to see how y'all kind of bridge both of those areas.

And that's a lot of folks that are powered by co-op tech.

I'm a huge co-op fan, so that's exciting.

When the merger was announced, you said it would mean expanded
resources for members.

Can you tell me what those resources look like?

Doug Remboldt:
Sure. So, you know, from the very beginning of the discussions
about this merger,

the premise is if we're going to do this,
we have to be better together.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Yeah.

Doug Remboldt:
And that has absolutely been the behind-the-scenes driving theme
of everything we've done.

And so we've spent a lot of time over the last year talking about
ways that this combined organization can

serve our members better together than we could each one of us on
our own.

You mentioned, you know, some folks from Meridian and from NISC
both.

The funnest thing about this merger for me,
and I can speak for Chris Haas as well,

Meridian CEO, it's been to learn how much alike these
organizations are

and how many things our members have in common,
and how many things our employees have in common.

And so when we think about expanded resources,
really the whole discussion comes down to

focusing our efforts around a single product offering and
delivering that to our members.

And each independent organization had teams of people responsible
for things like helping our members

communicate with the end consumer or the end subscriber.

When we combine those forces and we start to focus on single
product offerings,

we literally can bring double the resource to a single
initiative.

And that's what we're so excited about.

Now that all takes a little time.

We're not going to have one product overnight.

But as an organization –

Megan McKoy-Noe:
You didn't bring a magic wand?

Doug Remboldt:
Right?

Megan McKoy-Noe:
I just thought all CEOs have

that. Is that not –

Doug Remboldt:
If I did, we'd be having another discussion.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
That's true. That's true.

Doug Remboldt:
The overarching theme that we've been talking about internally at
this combined NISC is one membership,

one team and one product. And everything we do gets measured
against how we bring ourselves

together into those three tenets.

And those things don't happen overnight,
but every decision you make has to be leading to or supporting

that goal. And we know we have a lot of members running legacy
UPN on Meridian products,

and they're going to be running those for a while. This
transition doesn't happen overnight,

but when we can bring the efforts of this combined entire
organization,

it's, you know, we're 1,950 employees,
all focused on serving those members

that you talked about. And one of the things that I'm so excited
about,

since the beginning of time, I've been at NISC 36 years.

For the entirety of that time, we have had more employees than we
have members,

and we do that very purposefully.

We do that so that we can take care of our members.

And when we combined, we have 950 employees that are all focused
on taking care of those members that you talked about.

And when we focus on one product,
one membership, one team, we can do a lot of amazing things,

and we can bring more resource to a lot of initiatives that have
been understaffed for both organizations.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
I love that. So you've got a staff person for every utility,
and then some.

A person and a half, I like that.

You mentioned this, Doug. You've got folks on different
platforms.

You're calling them legacy, right?

Is the goal to eventually have everybody on the same platform as
you said,

one product? And if so, is there a conversion timeline that you
can share?

Doug Remboldt:
So the answer to your question very succinctly is yes.

Over time, we will have all of our members on one platform.

We know that doesn't happen overnight.

We know that we have members that are in various stages.

Some of them just adopted a new Meridian platform.

They're not going to be in a hurry to move to a new platform.

And so as an organization, we're very mindful of that,
and we will continue to support those platforms,

while we're working on bringing the best features of all of these
products together.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Is it really kind of like Frankenstein?

You're taking the best and creating something that eventually
will be even better than what either NISC or

Meridian had on their own?

Doug Remboldt:
That's absolutely true. So they're,
for instance, one of the very first things we're doing.

There are some payment options that are available in the UPN and
the Meridian products that weren't available in the iVUE the

NISC product. We're immediately beginning migrating those
features over.

And the combined NISC product will have the features that the
NISC members were used to,

as well as the additional features that the UPN and the Meridian
members have come to love.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
I like that, so that's going to be a lot of fun seeing that
rollout.

So there's not a specific timeline.

Some folks will still get support as long as they need it.

Doug Remboldt:
We're saying that timeline probably looks like seven years.

You know, so there's nothing overnight.

Nobody's going to have to change their software today.

We're going to make sure that members are very comfortable and
ready for that process.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
I like that. And I know with your background in member support,
like you're a big champion of helping folks and

taking care of them, are there going to be,
you know, if I'm doing this in two years,

five years or up to seven years,
will there be communication resources to help explain the change

to consumers whenever it happens?

Doug Remboldt:
Absolutely. That's a big part of what we're focused on as well
is,

you know, it's a transition for our members,
but it's also a transition for the end consumer and the end,

you know, the person at the end of the line.

And we're making sure that we have a toolkit.

NISC has developed a toolkit to help in that transition process:
marketing materials,

bill inserts, direct mail, electronic communication.

You know, we've got a variety of channels that we can use to
engage that end consumer and help them with that

transition as well.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Okay. Okay, great. I know MSR talking points is up there on the
list for you too,

because they're going to be answering lots of questions. Anytime
there is a conversion,

that's always the entire staff goes through it,
and then the consumers go right along with you on the journey.

Doug Remboldt:
Absolutely.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Let's switch over to data because I'm a huge data nerd.

I married a data architect. That's what my husband does.

So I hear about data all the time,
and I know that it powers a lot of storytelling.

But people, one of the biggest things we've seen at our
StoryConnect conferences is that folks aren't aware of all the

data that is out there and how best to harness it.

So I wanted to ask you how, as an information technology co-op,
you've got a lot of data handy.

How can marketers take advantage of the data that they have
through iVUE and then through the legacy software

from Meridian? How can they take advantage of that data for
targeted,

maybe email or print campaigns?

Doug Remboldt:
So by the way, I bet you guys have some interesting dinner
conversations about data.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
It's fun. It's fun. He'll go off on a tangent and I'm like,
"Oh,

that's so cool." And he's like,
"Really?" I'm like, "Yeah, yeah, it is."

Doug Remboldt:
I think Megan, that's the secret to it is first and foremost,
for our members to really

leverage that data for storytelling,
they have to understand the data.

And they have to be able to make logical decisions about how best
to use the data.

That's an area that NISC has been really focused on,
and Meridian,

and through the data analytics initiatives.

And so we have built, from an NISC perspective,
we have built a,

we call it the enterprise data lake,.and it literally is a
representation of all of the data in

one spot. And the intention is for analysis for better decision
making,

we're putting some tools on top of that.

We're just about to release our first,
and I'm so excited about this,

our first natural language query tools for that data.

So, you know, our hope is we're trying to empower folks,
with the data and not have to

involve a data scientist or a BI strategist every time you want
to investigate the data,

so we're starting with that. And that's really a fundamental
piece.

From there, the amount of data that we have,
that our members and when I say we have,

this is not NISC's data. This is our members' data.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Sure.

Doug Remboldt:
And we talk very succinctly about the fact that it's not NISC's
data;

it's our members data. There is so much data there,
and there are so many great tools that help us analyze this data,

make good decisions, and then we can push all of those things
into campaigns,

very succinct campaigns, to help either change in consumer
behavior,

get them interested in a program.

You know, the whole marketing aspect in the energy sector didn't
exist a few years ago.

And the need to be communicating proactively with members is so
prevalent.

We've got some great tools. We integrate with some third party
tools.

One of them is called bidgely, which does AI-assisted usage
disaggregation.

So you can be from an analysis standpoint,
either internally or the end consumer,

you can disaggregate the usage at a consumer's residence,
and it's able to pinpoint some things sometimes that are

culprits that can really make a difference.

Or it can also help pinpoint those that would be really prime
candidates for a given energy

resource program.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
I love that, and so is that something that folks just have to set
up and then like design a campaign that is triggered

when it identifies a trend that they can help with.

It's so cool. So basically there's a huge data lake.

It's like their own private fishing hole,
and you're giving folks fishing poles.

Doug Remboldt:
Yes. And then we're helping them fish.

We'll even bait the hook.

Speaker 4:
I love that!

Doug Remboldt:
We have a team. Yeah. We have a team of people that's just really
focused on helping our members with these things,

and we're really excited to do that.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Well, we've had a lot of success working with y'all in the past.

I remember a few years ago, Efficiency Services Group,
which is a Pioneer company,

we worked with Wells REC in Nevada and NISC to build an iVUE
module,

letting member service reps see homeowner appliance and HVAC
system information from on site member audits,

which is something that we hadn't done before. We do a lot of
home energy audits. And Wells did this for all of their members.

I don't know if you heard about this when it happened a few years
ago, but it was really cool, and they're still using it.

We double checked just to make sure,
and they're still using that.

Their MSRs can see exactly what's going on in their home when
they have questions.

So I'm just wondering, how much can a utility customize the type
of data that you capture?

Because that's new data coming in. It's not something that we
would normally ask someone,

you know, what type of HVAC system do you have as a new member of
our co-op?

Doug Remboldt:
We've got ways that we can, we have a great deal of flexibility
within the system.

And you can define, we use a concept basically called open
fields,

where you can define categories and track data at that end
consumer level.

And, those members that are doing those things are finding great
results from the data.

You know, Wells is a great example.

I'm really glad to hear that they're still using that.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
I know we were checking in. They're like,
yeah, of course we're still using that.

Doug Remboldt:
That's awesome. You know, one of the things that that has been
really interesting is,

you know, an AMI system is not just providing meter readings
anymore.

It's providing a whole lot of other data,
and that data can point to other things that might need

investigating, right. And so part of it is helping the consumer
be a better consumer.

The other part of the data is helping that system either be more
reliable or helping that system heal itself.

And so when you think about all of the uses for data.

NISC has invested heavily in kind of a product offering called
operations

analytics, and it's all data based as well.

And it's doing, it's basically taking a very accurate map of the
system and then helping members make proactive

decisions on how best to run that system, which is just another
good use of the same data a

lot of times, right.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
And I think folks can be overwhelmed by data sometimes and all
the possibilities.

So I love what you said about not just giving folks the tools and
the fishing rods,

but also helping bait. Like having folks that can guide you
through what makes the most sense for your utility.

How can you use this for marketing campaigns,
or to help support your MSRs when questions are coming in?

It's important to have guidance,
I think, with data, you know.

Otherwise you can drown in the lake if you don't know what you're
doing.

Doug Remboldt:
One of the things I'm so excited about,
we're just about to release,

we're kind of unveiling it at our member conference in a couple
of weeks,

but we are just about to release a tool that helps an MSR analyze
a bill.

And it can take current bills, it can take past bills,
and it can through the use of AI,

it can analyze and give a summary of what changes might have
happened in consumption,

what are some possible causes of those consumptions.

And so we are really focused on putting better tools into the
hands of the folks that are

serving the end consumer.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
And can you imagine, if you already are developing that
capability,

then the marketing team can have an email that goes just to folks
who have like over a

certain threshold of really marked difference from last year to
this year.

So they're not just calling in,
maybe they're just complaining to their friends about the bill,

and then they get an email from their utility saying,
"Hey, we were looking at this and something's going on.

Let's check in. Let's see how you're doing.

Let's see if we can help get your bill back to where it should
be.

Or maybe you've had some big life

changes. Let's talk about that."

Doug Remboldt:
Or maybe you have a pool pump that's gone crazy.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Yeah, yeah. And help them identify what's going on before three
months have gone by,

and they still have to pay for all of that.

Doug Remboldt:
And you know, we are really focused internally and in tools for
our members.

We're really focused on the concept of not answering the
question,

but solving the problem.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Yeah.

Doug Remboldt:
And so, you know, the answer to the question is,
well, your bill is higher because you used more.

But that's not really the problem,
right.

And so we're really focused on helping solve the problem and not
just answer the question.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
I love that. Well, I have to tell you,
I was talking to some friends,

and they are NISC members, and I told them that you and I were
going to be getting together.

It's very exciting, and it's lovely to get to talk to you.

She got really excited as well and she said,
she had what she called a "big shiny unicorn question,"

which is marketing speak for something that if only it's like the
magic wand,

you know, if only I could figure this out.

But she was saying that this has always been a thing for her.

How can folks automate consumer notices that are tied to specific
iVUE connect workflow steps?

Like when something happens in the system,
we send this email out automatically.

And I've been talking to a lot of folks about this,
about member mapping and then sending the right messages at the

right time. Does iVUE offer a way for those automatic workflow
triggered storytelling?

It sounds like you're working towards more of that.

Doug Remboldt:
Yeah, we sure are. We do. We absolutely do some of that today.

And a good example that I could share.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Yeah.

Doug Remboldt:
On the communications side of our business,
which many of our members are in the communications business as

well. There's a lot of tech work to be done on prem.

And one of the things that is really discouraging is for a tech
to have an appointment

and to show up at the house and have nobody there.

And so one of the things we've been able to incorporate into that
particular workflow,

for instance, is the ability to send out a reminder a day before
the appointment with maybe a picture of the tech that's going to

be coming to your house. And, you know,
an hour before the the appointment,

say, "Hey, we're on our way," and those types of things.

And they're embedded into the workflow.

They're embedded into the service order workflow.

And so, we're able to do some of those things today.

And we're looking at and working on how we can leverage that in a
more universal way as well.

So that has been something very important to us.

And, we can do some good things now,
and there's some good things coming.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Well, and with the combined power of all the employees now that
y'all have,

I can't wait to see what y'all are able to do with that.

The workflow storytelling is going to be amazing.

So I can't wait to see how it grows.

And it's nice to know the capability is there.

I love the fact that you can know who is assigned to it and have
their picture included with that,

because so many people are worried about scams now,
it's just another way to reassure them when you're coming out.

So exciting. You've talked about a lot of the things that y'all
are going to do,

really exciting plans at the MIC that y'all are unveiling.

But I'm wondering, you've been doing this for a while,
and everybody has the things they wish more people knew about.

So for you, what is NISC's most overlooked feature that you just
you're like,

oh, if only you guys would use this.

Doug Remboldt:
This is going to sound strange.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
No, bring it on. Come on, I love strange.

Doug Remboldt:
It's not a feature in the software.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Sure.

Doug Remboldt:
The most overlooked feature that we would love to see more
participation in is we do

training events literally almost daily.

And during those events, we try to tailor these things to very
small pieces of information that can be delivered very

succinctly. So we will have a training event on a new feature in
the software.

It's going to last an hour, and by the time you're done with that
training event,

hopefully you can turn on that feature.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Yeah.

Doug Remboldt:
And, I'm not exaggerating when I say I think we had like 85
events in the last 90 days or

something. I mean, it's a huge amount of these events.

And part of what we are seeing as an organization is,
is we are delivering changes faster.

We're delivering enhancements faster.

And for us, it's very important that we find ways to make sure
that our members know about those features and that functionality

in the software. And so that's Megan,
it's not a feature in the software,

but it's about the features in the software.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Well, okay, so you're doing, you've had 85 training events in the
last 90 days,

but let's say I'm coming in, and I'm new to the system and like,
I just need a library

of how to's. Is there something like that where it's not just me
having to schedule time to meet up with y'all,

but I can find a recording of how to do this super easy?

Doug Remboldt:
We have several ways that we can help with that.

First of all, we have formal training.

We have a learning management solution.

And you can assign a curriculum to new employees and have them go
through some succinct training.

In addition to that, we have whole libraries of feature training
and other things.

One of the things we're doing right now is NISC has an artificial
intelligence product,

kind of, that we can embed into the solution,
and it becomes a wonderful source of gathering the available

resources. And so we can point that AI assistant at our
community,

for instance, and search the community for articles or training
events or other things.

We can look at libraries of documents.

One of the things that's been very helpful there is it's one
thing to know how the software works,

but you also have to couple that with how you're using it in an
individual member office.

And there's policies. There's procedures that go along with,
you know,

there is a disconnect for non-pay policy,
for instance.

There's a rate policy. There's all of these things.

We can put all of those things in this AI assistant.

And new employees can literally just query that assistant,
"Hey,

what can you tell me about the disconnect for non-pay process?

How do we do it? How does the software do it?" Those types of
things.

And so, it's really excited.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
It's like your own custom GPT.

Doug Remboldt:
Yeah, well, and that's exactly honestly what it is.

And our members have the ability within that AI assistant even to
determine personally which large language model they

want to use. And, it's really getting to be a big part of how
we're

delivering information for the solution as well as,
you know, how to use the solution.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
I love that, and I love that the training that y'all are doing is
all going into that as well.

So folks can learn as y'all are having these training sessions.

They can also see the wealth of knowledge that y'all have,
and you have an AI assistant with all of the knowledge

bases included for their specific utility,
which is just amazing,

where they can also ask questions there and go back and forth.

And you mentioned community. Is they're a really good community
where they can ask their peers questions as well?

Doug Remboldt:
Absolutely. The NISC community,
last number I saw there was about 45,000 active users on it.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Just a few.

Doug Remboldt:
And it is a wonderful source, and we have members using it all
the time.

"Hey, we're thinking about designing this new procedure or this
new policy." And,

members are so willing to share this information.

It's so fun to see. You know, some of those questions,
NISC can't answer.

You know, they're not about the software.

They're about how to accomplish a business task.

And, you know, the procedure that goes along with it.

Or maybe they're rewriting a policy.

The NISC community has great participation from our members.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
So you've got 45,000 folks that have been with NISC for a while.

Have you seen folks that had historically been with Meridian?

Are they starting to join in the community fun as well?

Doug Remboldt:
We are. We're just working through the process to integrate them
in as well.

Part of what we want to do is make sure we have the data curated
in a way that makes it applicable to them.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Because they're still going to be on legacy software for a while.

Doug Remboldt:
Yeah. So we're working through some of those processes right now.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Nice. Well, I can't wait to watch that community expand and have
a lot of fun.

Doug Remboldt:
I am looking forward to it.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Well, as the first marketing partner,
we were really excited to be the first marketing partner for both

NISC and Meridian. It's been a couple years now,
but we've had blog posts about how to share your story on bills.

Those are places that folks don't always think about,
so we walked through how you can do that.

The sizing and everything that you need.

Opportunities they might not think about. We also include Smart
Hub content in our libraries for all of our Pioneer social

subscribers. We try to make it easy for folks to find it.

Because one of the things we've heard over time is that they just
don't know about all the storytelling tools that NISC offers.

So can you tell me, is there anything else, print or digital
resources that folks might not know

about that's there for them?

Doug Remboldt:
We have a whole library of those types of tools as well,
and they're complimentary to the tools that Pioneer provides.

Pioneer, by the way, does such an amazing job of helping convey a
message.

And we're honored to have you as a partner,
by the way.

It's really important to us. We have a whole library of tools as
well.

They are available to our members at any point,
and we can make them available to you as well.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Well, and I know I've worked with like I said,
I've got friends at both,

who've been on the Meridian side and then on the NISC side.

And I know, folks have always been so willing to share and
willing to help customize everything.

It's just letting folks know that it's there.

So that's one of the biggest things that we have noticed.

So I'm curious, how is the way that folks get those communication
resources?

Is that changing as the two companies are joining forces?

Doug Remboldt:
The best way to gain access to any of those things is through
your account manager.

Your account manager is not changing.

If your UPN or Meridian or NISC,
you're still dealing with the same friendly face that you're used

to dealing with. And so access to any resources,
any questions at NISC that account manager

is a great avenue. The support teams are also great avenues for
that as well.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
I love that, so they can help you out.

You can say, "Hey, I need help communicating about this or that."
If you're not in the community, they can get you plugged into the

community. Love that, so lean into your account manager,
attend the training sessions,

and take advantage of the bait and the fishing rods that NISC is
providing for you with the data.

So before I let you go, I just had a question about the process
for you because this has been a really big story

this year. I remember I was at Meridian getting ready for an APEX
presentation when the news came out.

And so it's like, this is big. And a big part of the NISC
Meridian merger

story is how you've been communicating with members and the
staff.

So it's like letting partners know,
letting members at impacted utilities know,

and the Meridian staff had questions.

I know the NISC staff had questions,
but you've really been doing a good job of sharing the story both

at conferences this summer, keeping both sets of staff updated
through internal comms,

and then working with media outlets like coming on the podcast to
explain the changes.

I'm curious, as CEO, what's been your most effective
communication channel or approach to sharing this story?

Doug Remboldt:
We have used a lot of different communications channels,
and we've tried to provide an awful lot of information.

In fact, I did a webinar at one point,
and my comment at the beginning was that the focus of

this webinar is to answer any questions because we've already
told you everything we know.

And that's kind of a fun

place to be. We have –

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Yeah.

Doug Remboldt:
We have communicated everything we know.

I will tell you, the most effective for us has been to
disseminate information in written form.

Allow either our members or our partners or our employees to
digest that information.

And then follow up with town hall type discussions where we can
just have a conversation.

Because there's a lot of questions that will come out,
and they aren't going to come out via an email chat.

They're going to come out when you're together.

And together in modern day can be many different forms,
but those have absolutely been the most effective.

They've been the most valuable from a NISC perspective,
because we're hearing directly from our stakeholders whether

that's our members, our teammates,
or our partners.

And so one of the very best. It wasn't my idea.

I would love to take credit for it,
but one of the very best things we did was with our members,

we sent out the information, and then we scheduled town hall
meetings a week later.

We let everyone digest the information,
and then we came together,

and we recapped the information,
but we literally just had question and answer time.

And that was that was the most engaging and probably helped us
the most.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Were there any crazy questions that you got that you're like,
I wouldn't have thought about that.

Doug Remboldt:
Yeah, there were a few. There's a lot of technical questions.

Obviously, you know, people are wondering how we technically
bring things together.

There was a few questions about,
you know, how do we bring the organizations together?

How do we become one team? A few questions about governance and,
you know,

how is the board going to be structured and all those things.

But we had actually, we had spent months documenting every
question that we could think

of. And then kind of having a, I don't want to say a canned
answer,

but having a meaningful answer for our members to things they
might be asking.

And so that preparation actually turned out to be really
valuable.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
I love that, and I love the fact that the most valuable approach
you found was listening and having a

conversation, having the back and forth.

Because you're right, we too often speak one way and don't let
the communication come back and forth.

Doug Remboldt:
I'm going to go back to my don't answer the question;
solve the problem.

It's really easy to answer a question in an email or a text
message.

It's often very difficult to solve the underlying question.

You know, there's always a question behind the question.

And a conversation is the best way to solve that.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
I love that. Is there anything else you want to share with folks
about the merger before we go?

Doug Remboldt:
I will just tell you, I am so excited.

And the reason that I'm so excited is because I absolutely
believe,

and we are already seeing how we can deliver more for our
members.

Our members are everything to us.

They deserve an awful lot from us.

We're just honestly so excited at the opportunity to expand that
partnership and continue to deliver more for our

members. So good things ahead.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
And I am excited to see them unfold.

I know everyone at Pioneer is so.

Thank you so much, Doug, for sharing your story with utility
pioneers.

He is Doug Remboldt from NISC, and I'm your host,
Megan McKoy-Noe at Pioneer.

And until we talk again, keep telling your story.

Outro:
StoryConnect is a production of Pioneer Utility Resources.

Send questions to hello@pioneer.coop and learn more about our
member-owned marketing agency at

pioneer.coop.