Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Discover how Tri-State and our members are embracing the opportunity to power the West in our new podcast, Western Watts!
We'll dive into the heart of energy issues, from reliability to wildfire mitigation, and share firsthand insights relevant to rural, agricultural and mountain communities across Colorado, Nebraska, New Mexico and Wyoming.
This podcast may contain certain forward looking statements concerning Tri-State's plans, performance, and strategies. Actual results may differ materially because of numerous factors, and Tri-State undertakes no obligation to update these forward looking statements. We urge you to review Tri-State's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a discussion of these factors.
Elizabeth Schilling:Today, I have the pleasure of speaking with mister David Spradlin. So as an introduction, would you mind telling us your name, cooperative, your role, and how many Tri-State Annual Meetings you've been to so far?
David Spradlin:Okay, my name is David Spradlin. I'm the CEO of the Springer Electric Cooperative, and I think this is my twentieth Tri-State Annual Meeting. So Springer was one of the original New Mexico members and then the merger of Plains Electric with Tri-State back in February. RG & T was merged into the Tri-State Cooperative and so that's the point when I started coming to Tri-State Annual Meetings.
Elizabeth Schilling:Wow, all right. Well, glad to have you here today. So you started at Springer in 1986 and then you've been the CEO since 1990. Also serve on the board of directors for the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association or NRECA. So you have had that front row seat to all the things changing in the electric co-op world.
Elizabeth Schilling:But looking at today and into the future, what are you most excited about?
David Spradlin:Oh boy, I'm excited about a lot of different things. When you look at what the co-ops stand for, working for people, the safety, reliability, and affordability of energy. I think there's some very exciting developments for us to pursue going forward. The continual advancement of AI and those type technologies, drones, I think gives us a great opportunity to actually provide even better, more reliable service to our members. I'm really excited about we have two different grants that we're doing.
David Spradlin:One of them is with the NRECA consortium, which is wildfire mitigation. And part of that grant is to incorporate technology, it's called the PIRE, which is a system, AI generated system, which will help us determine if there is a fire, which direction it might go. And so we can kind of plan our system around that. And then kind of in conjunction with that, we're doing another grant with the Department of Energy. And one of the things they're doing is a predictive AI system that will show the impacts of climate change on our specific area.
David Spradlin:And so we can kind of plan our system around those things and figure out, okay, how can we provide the most reliable service and also ensure the safety of our employees and the safety of our members? So I think those are very exciting things and I'm a type person who's always tried to be at the forefront of things and even in a small system like Springer, we've always tried to put ourselves at the tip of the spear of some changes. We were a very early adopter of solar technologies so we've developed some solar stuff and so we've always been in that kind of mode. And partly serving a very rural part of New Mexico, I don't want our employees to feel like they're part of this very isolated system. I want them to think that they're working for a company that is moving forward and going with the times and actually being out in front.
David Spradlin:So I think it gives them a sense that they're part of something bigger. I think that's been one of the things that we've tried to do at Springer and I think there's plenty of opportunities going forward with technology to continue that.
Elizabeth Schilling:That's beautiful. Yeah, feels like that combination of your role as co-op CEO, board member for NRECA, you've got that balance of showing up locally for your cooperative, but also contributing to the national conversation surrounding co-ops. How does that play out for you?
David Spradlin:So I kind of think of it in three different ways. So on the NRACA board, you typically have CEOs and board of directors that are from larger systems. And so I'm one of the few that's at a very small system. And so I try and bring that perspective to the national conversation. We talk a lot about programs that NRECA does and I always bring the focus back to, okay, what is achievable by a small co-op with limited resources and get them to think in those terms.
David Spradlin:So you take my local experience at my co-op and then secondarily I'm there to represent New Mexico. And so I try and bring the New Mexico perspective as well. And then at the third level, I'm part of Tri-State and so Tri-State serves four states and so with the ability to talk to people in four different states I always try and make sure that I bring that perspective into the national conversation as well.
Elizabeth Schilling:That's great. That's perfect. I think just to have that view that you have, but then taking it and amplifying that voice of your members, that's huge. So cooperatives emphasize, obviously, a focus more on people than profits. So how does that guiding principle influence your day to day decisions?
Elizabeth Schilling:When you're thinking strategically at Springer, how does that play in?
David Spradlin:So I think it plays in from the aspect of always at the forefront of anything that we do is our member at the end of the line and our employees. And so as with anything that I do there when I'm looking at stuff is I'm thinking about, okay, how will this affect my employees? How will this affect the member at the end of the line? And so the focus right now with wildfire mitigation and those type of things kind of highlight what that is because really when it comes down to it, I wanna go to bed at night every night thinking that I've done my best to ensure the safety of my employees, safety of the public, and ensure the reliability of the system to provide that service to the members. Because being born and raised in rural New Mexico, that's where my heart is.
David Spradlin:And so even though I was born and raised in a different town, the same people that I grew up with are basically the same people that I'm serving now. The names and the faces are different, but it's the same heart and soul that I grew up with. And so with that in mind, I think that really focuses all of our efforts. And then when you pull in the boards, which are of the members, that gives that added emphasis for making sure that everything you're doing is in service to those members at the end of the line.
Elizabeth Schilling:These are the people you're gonna see in your community anyway, so it's like you'll able to answer to them.
David Spradlin:We're in touch with them every day. You see them at the grocery store, you see them at school events. One of the things early in my career that kind of bought me into the co-op program, two years of being CFO, the basketball coach in our town asked me if I would help him coach the basketball team and he knew my background from playing basketball in the neighboring town and so he said, Hey, why don't you come help me? I need some assistance. I went to the co-op CEO at that time and said, Hey, would you allow me to go help coach them?
David Spradlin:And he said, Sure, as long as it doesn't interfere with your job here. And so I would go up and coach every evening. Sometimes I'd have to go back to the office to get stuff done but they allowed me to do that and that was talk about buying into the community and when you're in a little community like that and you're traveling to all the other communities that you serve coaching with the basketball team, you just meet so many people. And so it just bought me into the whole co op concept of this is for our members and everything we do should be for those members.
Elizabeth Schilling:So the job description can get a little bit bigger than what's on paper at times. It's that connection at all opportunities. Oh,
David Spradlin:Oh, absolutely. There's nothing more satisfying. I worked for a year out of college at a big corporation and after a year I just knew that wasn't for me. I just can't go to work every day working for this kind of cold organization and so looking for a place to land that would give me more of that feel for the small town feel and the people were getting reconnected with that and the co op was the perfect place. I tell people I have been extremely blessed.
David Spradlin:Blessed with where I grew up and blessed to have a career that has been in that same sort of environment serving those same people. It's been an unbelievable journey and just a true blessing.
Elizabeth Schilling:That's beautiful. So on that topic of connecting with people, thinking about events like this annual meeting, what kind of value do you see in everybody coming together in person for these meetings once a year?
David Spradlin:So mostly the big value is looking people in the face and having discussions and looking at their response, can get a better feel for how people are reacting, what they're thinking, and just the discussions that happen in the hallway like right now are the best. I mean you can really get a feel for where people are at. In the years that we were under COVID and everything was virtual, after a while I couldn't take that anymore. It's like please get us out of this because I need that personal interaction. I need to see your reaction when I say something and vice versa so we can have a true conversation about the issues that we're facing.
David Spradlin:And all of us are we're all different as they say, when you've met one co-op, you've met one co-op. Well, yeah, but there are a lot of similarities to what we all face the challenges of employees, affordability, all those kinds of more generic challenges, we're all facing those and we all deal with those differently. And you can learn just so much from stepping aside with someone and saying, Hey, how are you dealing with this? And having a good conversation about that. So I think that's the value of coming to these in person.
David Spradlin:So I think it's something that I'm very happy that we're back to doing that and I hope it stays that way. And I think it just brings huge value to us.
Elizabeth Schilling:Well, we're grateful that you're here for the connections that you're making throughout the meeting. And thank you for taking the time to talk with me today.
David Spradlin:Absolutely, my pleasure.
Elizabeth Schilling:Thanks for tuning into Western Watts. You can find us on Spotify, Apple Podcast, YouTube, or on our website at tristate.coop/wwpod. We'll catch you next time.