Chugach Electric members elected four directors
Janet Reiser, Harry Crawford and Jim Henderson were elected to 3-year terms on the Chugach Electric Association board of directors and Doug Robbins was elected to a 1-year term. Election results were announced at the cooperative utility's annual meeting Thursday evening, May 26. A total of 9,548 ballots were counted, meaning 14.3 percent of the 66,829 Chugach members of record voted in the election.
Of the total, 21.3 percent of the ballots were cast electronically via the Internet. Chugach offered its members the option of electronic voting for the first time this year. In 2010, Chugach and other cooperatives sought and received a change from the legislature in state statutes to permit electronic voting.
Reiser is a management consultant, CEO of Salus Management Services and managing member of Jet Enviro De-Icing, LLC. An incumbent, she was elected to the board in 2008. Crawford is a former Alaska State legislator, retired iron worker and small-real estate developer. Henderson is a principal with Financial & Valuation Analysis. Robbins is a retired petroleum geologist and manager with 26 years of experience at Marathon Oil Co. He was appointed in December 2010 to fill a vacancy on the Chugach board.
Steve Pratt and Uwe Kalenka were also candidates in the election.
The ballot count for the election was:
- Janet Reiser 6,592
- Harry T. Crawford, Jr. 5,315
- James R. Henderson 5,208
- Doug Robbins 5,146
- Steve Pratt 4,179
- Uwe Kalenka 4,062
In other voting, Chugach members passed two bylaw proposals. One proposal was for housekeeping amendments; the second to clarify language for the electronic voting deadline.
A total of 167 Chugach members registered for the annual meeting, held at the Dena'ina Civic & Convention Center.
Immediately after the annual meeting, the board met to elect new officers to serve for the next year. Janet Reiser was elected chairman of the board, Susan Reeves was elected vice-chair, Doug Robbins was elected secretary and P.J. Hill was elected treasurer.
Chugach is the largest electric utility in Alaska, providing power for Alaskans throughout the Railbelt through retail, wholesale and economy energy sales.