06/07/2021 - Trevor Jones Announced as New General Manager
South Dakota Rural Electric Association, Inc.
222 West Pleasant Drive
P.O. Box 1138
Pierre, South Dakota 57501-1138
Phone: 605-224-8823
Fax: 605-224-4430
PIERRE - The SDREA Board of Directors has selected Trevor Jones as the statewide association’s new general manager.
SDREA, which has represented the interests of the state’s electric cooperative consumers for nearly 80 years, tapped Jones to carry out the association’s strategic plan designed to build on the system’s success as leaders in the electric cooperative industry.
According to SDREA Board President Don Heeren, the organization’s directors have worked diligently for more than a year to develop a long-term plan designed to help the system exceed its own standards of service excellence. He said the plan carefully prepared by a special Task Force focuses on specific key areas including operations, legislation, training and safety.
“Our board members have devoted a considerable amount of time and effort to formulate a roadmap that will help us successfully navigate a dynamic industry and market environment that continues to change and evolve,” Heeren said. “We’re very confident that Trevor’s extensive background in organizational leadership, his broad-based legislative experience and his work with safety programs will be instrumental in allowing us to accomplish our goals for the future. We’re very fortunate and very excited to have a professional of Trevor’s caliber join our team.”
Jones, a native of Aberdeen who holds a criminal justice degree from the University of South Dakota, most recently served as Government and Public Relations Advisor for TC Energy in Carpenter where he supported the company’s Keystone XL pipeline. Prior to his role at TC Energy, Jones worked with Dakota State University as Director of Digital Forensic Services and was Cabinet Secretary for the state’s Dept. of Public Safety in Gov. Daugaard’s administration. In that role, he had responsibility over the 11 agencies and more than 400 employees within the department.
Jones said he welcomes the opportunity to serve as an enthusiastic advocate for the state’s electric cooperatives and noted the system’s long history of improving the quality of life for cooperative member/owners while having a positive impact on the communities they call home.
“I’m very excited to play a role in representing our cooperatives and our more than 126,000 members who work and live in every corner of the state and who rely on the power we deliver,” Jones said. “The bold leaders who began this movement many decades ago had a vision that has grown into a strong network of independently owned and independently controlled cooperatives that work hard every day to carry out that vision. It’s very humbling to be chosen as the next leader of SDREA and I’m looking forward to working with our stakeholders throughout the system to continue that legacy of service and success.”
Jones succeeds Ed Anderson, who served the state’s rural electric cooperative system for more than 20 years. The SDREA board conducted a national search in selecting its new general manager with assistance from the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association’s Executive Search team.
About South Dakota’s Electric Cooperatives – South Dakota’s electric cooperatives provide electricity to more than 126,000 homes, farms and businesses in the state, averaging only 2.5 consumers per mile of line. SDREA is a member-owned, member-controlled association of 31 electric cooperatives in South Dakota. SDREA is devoted to unifying, promoting and protecting the interests of member electric cooperatives in South Dakota by providing leadership, training, communication, legislative representation and other member services.
A PDF version of the press release can be found here.