Executive Director

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Executive Director

Colorado Rural Electric Association

Denver, CO

Salary range to start:  $325,000 – $425,000

Please send your resume and cover letter to boardpresident@coloradorea.org
all submissions are confidential

Application deadline:  May 15, 2025

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Statewide Association Seeks Executive Director

The board of directors serving the Colorado Rural Electric Association based in Denver, Colorado, seeks a member focused leader to become the next executive director of the association.

CREA’s executive director is a leader responsible for guiding the association towards excellence in service and member collaboration. The executive director exemplifies the cooperative principles and CREA’s core values and mission to enhance and advance the interests of its member electric cooperatives through a united effort. Reporting to a 25-member board of directors, the executive director is responsible for leading employees to support its 21-member distribution cooperatives and one generation and transmission cooperative.

The ideal candidate will continue the association’s established and successful history of building and nurturing relationships with various stakeholders — including local electric distribution cooperatives, lawmakers, and regulatory agencies.

This position requires a dynamic leader with a strategic mindset, exceptional communication and interpersonal skills, and a commitment to fostering collaboration within the organization and with external partners.

About CREA

The Colorado Rural Electric Association is a not-for-profit, member-driven organization that represents and advocates for 21 distribution cooperatives and one Colorado-based generation and transmission association. Colorado’s electric cooperatives serve more than 1 million consumer-members living across more than 70% of the state’s landmass.

For 80 years, CREA has functioned as an essential resource for the state’s electric cooperatives and focuses on providing legislative advocacy, communications support, safety training, and education services.

CREA is positioned to continue its active participation in state and federal legislative processes and to advocate for the interests of its member electric cooperatives, ensuring Colorado’s co-op communities have a voice in influencing energy policy.

Beyond its advocacy efforts, CREA prioritizes safety and loss control training for its members and serves as the publisher of Colorado Country Life magazine — the state’s largest-circulation publication, reaching more than 175,000 cooperative members and legislators each month.

By prioritizing member service and promoting cooperative principles, the statewide association plays a pivotal role in ensuring that Coloradans who are served by an electric cooperative have access to reliable, affordable, safe, and sustainable electric service. 

 

At CREA, the executive director:  

  • Leads the organization in achieving its strategic goals and objectives.
  • Cultivates positive relationships with the board, member cooperatives, staff, and other stakeholders.
  • Shapes an organizational culture that empowers CREA teams to deliver outstanding service.
  • Continues a culture of excellence in member engagement and fiscal strength.
  • Develops and implements a compelling vision and strategic plan aligned with the board of directors’ long-term goals.
  • Advocates for the electric cooperative industry at state and national levels.
  • Works toward uniting the diverse association membership.
  • Manages day-to-day operations and activities of the association.
  • Manages the operations of the association in accordance with the viewpoints, objectives, and policies of the board of directors.
  • Frequently travels throughout Colorado and other states as necessary.

The ideal candidate will have verifiable experience in the following competencies:

  • Change Leadership and Risk Management: Proactively identifies, navigates, and manages organizational change and risk.
  • Innovation and Continuous Improvement: Encourages creative thinking and champions opportunities for innovation and process enhancement.
  • Strategic Vision: Maintains a long-term, big-picture perspective that anticipates future needs of the association and its members.
  • Member-Centric Focus: Champions a culture that prioritizes and responds to the needs of its member cooperatives.
  • Analytical Decision Making: Applies systematic, conceptual, and data-informed thinking to develop effective solutions that align with strategic goals.
  • Resilience and Adaptability: Remains composed and flexible in the face of challenges, ambiguity, or rapid change.
  • Financial Acumen: Understands budgeting, financial risks, and opportunities to support sound fiscal decision-making.
  • Effective Communication: Communicates clearly and actively listens to foster mutual understanding; strong presentation skills are a plus.
  • Inspirational Leadership: Motivates, influences, and aligns others with the organization’s mission, vision, and values.
  • Organizational Awareness: Understands the organization’s structure, culture, and dynamics to navigate effectively and influence outcomes.
  • Team and Relationship Building: Builds strong, collaborative teams and cultivates positive working relationships across the organization.
  • Integrity and Courage: Acts with integrity, consistency, and professionalism, even in the face of difficult decisions.

The following qualifications will help the ideal candidate stand out: 

  • An advanced degree or certification in law, political science, management, finance, economics, or engineering.
  • Working knowledge of electric utility operations, best practices for industry safety efforts, implications of local and regional power supply, and electric cooperative needs.

Benefits

  • Pension and 401(k) plan
  • Medical, dental, and prescription drug insurance
  • Long-term disability insurance
  • Life insurance
  • Supplemental AD&D insurance
  • Business travel accident insurance
  • Education assistance plan
  • Section 125 plan
  • Health savings account
  • Seven paid holidays and two personal days
  • Vacation and sick leave
  • Company vehicle

Colorado Rural Electric Association is an equal opportunity employer. CREA prohibits unlawful discrimination or harassment on the basis of race, color, religion, religious creed, national origin, ancestry, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, physical disability, mental disability, pregnancy, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, citizenship status, military status, veteran status, vaccination status, political belief, or any other characteristic to the extent protected by federal, state, or local laws.

Advocating in D.C. for Colorado Co-ops

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The Colorado Rural Electric Association spends many hours and resources representing the interests of its member co-ops before the Colorado General Assembly. Each year from January through May, CREA staff and contract lobbyists carefully follow all the legislative proposals considered by our state legislature to determine if they will have any impact on electric co-ops. This is a job that requires our attention 24 hours a day, seven days a week to make sure proposed new laws won’t have any negative impacts on electric co-op members.

In addition to our work at the state level, CREA also works with the national trade association — the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association — to promote and protect the interests of Colorado co-ops in Washington, D.C. While most of the policy action takes place in Colorado, there are many federal initiatives that are relevant to Colorado’s electric co-ops.

In 2021, the United States Congress passed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. One of the provisions of that law authorized electric co-ops to apply for grants and loans to help pay for distribution grid projects that will reduce the risk of wildfires and improve the resilience of electric co-op systems. In 2022, Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act, which included a loan and grant program specifically for electric co-ops. The funds authorized by this law were made available to electric co-ops to help them acquire new generating resources and improve the reliability of their systems.

Colorado’s electric co-ops collectively spent thousands of hours working with the appropriate government agencies and filing applications for these grants and loans. Over the last year or so, CREA’s member co-ops have been extremely successful in being awarded grants and loans that will be administered by the Department of Energy, the Department of Agriculture, and the Department of Homeland Security. These grants and loans provide a historic opportunity for Colorado’s electric co-ops to invest in infrastructure that will serve their members at the end of the line with affordable, reliable electricity for many years into the future.

I recently traveled to Washington, D.C., with a group of Colorado co-op CEOs to meet with our members of Congress to emphasize the critical importance of these loans and grants to Colorado’s electric co-op members. Co-ops serve about 70% of Colorado’s land mass, and any help we can get to keep rates affordable and service reliable is much appreciated.

The grants and loans that have been committed to Colorado’s electric co-ops will benefit thousands of Coloradans, and we urge all officials of the federal government to honor these commitments.

Kent Singer is the executive director of CREA and offers a statewide perspective on issues affecting electric cooperatives. CREA is the trade association for 21 Colorado electric distribution co-ops and one power supply co-op.

Colorado Country Life Launches New Website

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March 6 – DENVER, COLORADO – Colorado Country Life, the official publication of the Colorado Rural Electric Association, launched a new website to make the magazine’s online presence more accessible, visually appealing, and informative for readers.

The web address is the same — coloradocountrylife.coop —  but the updated website has a modern look. The redesigned site complements the fresh look of the updated and rebranded print publication that launched in January 2025.

The website was built with electric cooperative members in mind. In addition to the new look and feel, the website has many improvements and upgrades, some of which include:

  • Enhanced Accessibility. The new site meets accessibility standards and now content is easier for screen readers to assist users who are blind or have low-vision.
  • Enhanced Search Capabilities. New search functions make it easier than ever to find content. With more intuitive navigation, articles, recipes, and more can be accessed in the search bar at the top of the homepage.
  • Searchable Archives. CCL magazine archives are now fully searchable. With this new feature, visitors can find exactly what they need from past issues with just a few clicks.

CCL and CREA welcome you to explore this new site and learn more about our work at coloradocountrylife.coop.

Colorado co-op members gather at CREA 80th Annual Meeting.2025

Celebrating 80 Years

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Eighty years! That’s how long the Colorado Rural Electric Association has been advocating for and providing services to Colorado’s electric cooperatives. Founded in 1945, our trade association has partnered with our member co-ops for decades to support their mission of providing reliable and affordable electricity to all corners of Colorado. We celebrated our 80th anniversary during the recent annual meeting of our members in Denver; here are some highlights.

Industry Updates

In addition to full-day education sessions focused on cooperative governance and power supply issues, we hosted an amazing group of speakers on a wide variety of topics: an economic update from CFC; an update on activities in the U.S. Congress from CoBank; a state political update from our CREA government relations team; a panel discussing data centers and their potential impacts on co-ops, and a co-op power supplier conversation.

The meeting was an opportunity for co-op directors and CEOs to hear the latest on what’s happening in the fast-moving electric industry.

Light Up Navajo

Attendees also heard from Walter Haas, the head of the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority. We have worked with NTUA for the last couple of years to send co-op lineworkers to the Navajo Nation in northern Arizona to help build electric lines to homes without access to power. Last year, line crews from seven Colorado electric co-ops worked with employees of NTUA to construct distribution lines to serve dozens of families. Haas made a special trip to Denver to thank our co-ops and CREA for their contribution to this work. We look forward to continuing our support of NTUA to help power the lives of the many Navajo citizens who are still living without electricity.

Legislative Reception and Breakfast

Our annual meeting is always scheduled when the Colorado General Assembly is in session so that we can meet with legislators and talk about issues that concern electric co-ops. We had great participation by the members of our legislature again this year and we had a chance to talk about the many issues facing our members, including the risks posed by wildfires on rural communities.

Our 80th annual meeting was a huge success due to the engagement of our members and the excellent work of the entire CREA team. We look  forward to another 80 years protecting the interests of Colorado’s electric cooperatives!

Kent Singer is the executive director of CREA and offers a statewide perspective on issues affecting electric cooperatives. CREA is the trade association for 21 Colorado electric distribution co-ops and one power supply co-op.

Wildfire Mitigation – A statewide viewpoint

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The recent wildfires in California are a heartbreaking reminder of the risks that face many communities in the arid western United States. While a combination of drought, high winds, and low humidity all conspired to create the conditions for this tragic event, it’s not clear yet who or what was responsible for igniting the fires. It has been suggested that electric utility facilities may have been the cause of at least one of the wildfires, although that has not been proven.

Whether or not the Southern California wildfires were caused by electric power lines, there is no doubt that utility facilities have previously been the cause of wildfires in California. Colorado’s electric co-ops are very much aware of these risks, and they do everything in their power to reduce the possibility that their facilities will cause a wildfire. Electric co-ops go to great lengths to clear vegetation from around their power lines and other facilities, and they are leaders in deploying new technology to anticipate and detect conditions where wildfires may be more likely.

Colorado’s electric co-ops also prepare wildfire mitigation plans that spell out in detail all the steps they take to lower the risks of wildfires. But even the most comprehensive wildfire mitigation plan does not guarantee safety. With thousands of miles of power lines across the state, many of which traverse remote forests and public lands, it is impossible to mitigate all the risks.

For that reason, CREA has been working on a legislative proposal that would recognize the work being done by Colorado’s electric co-ops around wildfire mitigation. The bill would provide some measure of liability protection for those co-ops that have implemented a state-approved wildfire mitigation plan. Without a bill like this, it may become impossible for Colorado co-ops to obtain adequate liability insurance to protect their consumer-members. Other states have passed similar legislation, and we’re hopeful that the Colorado legislature will consider this bill — if not this year, then in the 2026 session of the legislature.

Colorado’s electric co-ops need reassurance that if they do everything that is reasonably possible to mitigate the risk that their facilities will cause a wildfire, they will not be subject to lawsuits that could literally bankrupt them. Co-ops will always do everything in their power to protect the communities they serve, including investing time and money in measures to reduce the risk of wildfires.

Kent Singer is the executive director of CREA and offers a statewide perspective on issues affecting electric cooperatives. CREA is the trade association for 21 Colorado electric distribution co-ops and one power supply co-op.