Cooperative Living October 2019 - 38

Co-opPeople | by Steven Johnson, Staff Writer
Reflections from a Newly Retired CEO
" ... at the same
time you have
to keep up with
your investment
in your people. "
- Mike Wheatley
" You can automate equipment and save
money and save the members' money, "
he says. " You have to make the investment
in the infrastructure, but at the same time
you have to keep up with your investment
in your people. "
T
he electric cooperative that Mike
Wheatley joined in 1993 is not
the same one that he retired from
in March. It won't be the same five, 10 or
20 years from now, he says.
Oh, the name on the building remains
Choptank Electric Cooperative. And the
mission still is to provide safe, affordable,
reliable power to the co-op's 54,000
members. But achieving that goal will
require agility and resiliency in every
aspect of the co-op's business.
" One of the things going forward is
that the business is getting more technical, "
says Wheatley, who retired as president and
CEO of Choptank in March. " In general,
as opposed to 25 or 30 years ago and what
it is today, it's going to be important to
keep up with the tech part of the job and
to stay current with what's going on. "
How much so? Consider that less than
a generation ago, Choptank had the
standard mainframe computer. " When I left,
we had more computers than we did people.
Everybody had a desktop or a laptop or a
mobile device or an iPad. It was probably a
2-to-1 ratio of devices to people. "
Used in the right fashion, and with proper
workforce training, technology is a good
thing, Wheatley says. Choptank's state-ofthe-art
automated meter reading system has
saved money on the metering side and
enables the co-op to detect outages before
members even know there is a problem.
36 | Cooperative Living | October 2019
BILL SHERROD PHOTOS
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A graduate of the University of Virginia,
Wheatley joined Choptank in 1993 as
financial and administrative service
coordinator. He rose through the ranks as
vice president of corporate services and
senior vice president of corporate services
before becoming CEO in 2011.
Technology is changing the face of the
co-op in other ways. The growth in energyefficient
appliances and the expansion of
solar power are factors in lagging kilowatthour
sales.
" You're in that environment where people
replace their refrigerators and appliances
with something that uses significantly less
kilowatt-hours. On top of that, with net
metering in Maryland, we have over a
thousand people with solar panels. "
So how does a co-op cope with a stagnant
revenue stream? Wheatley says electric
vehicles hold some promise.
" If you get a vehicle that'll go 200 miles
on a single charge, the owners are not going
to charge on the road. They're going to
charge at home at night, " he says. " Creating
a rate structure that accommodates
them and making sure you have your
infrastructure in place for those folks is
going to be a plus. That's really one of the
things that could help in the future. "
" Co-ops always should be on the lookout
for administrative efficiencies, " he adds.
Wheatley said Choptank and its members
benefitted from consolidating three offices
in its southern region to a single regional
service center.
" We got in a position where we didn't
have to carry as much inventory or carry
as many trucks, " he says. " I think that
gave the better combined workforce a more
efficient operation. "
Wheatley gave high marks to Choptank
employees for their commitment to
continuing education, noting many
capitalized on the co-op's tuition
reimbursement policy to improve their
skill sets and help prepare for the future.
" Several employees received their
associate, bachelor's and master's degrees
while working full time at Choptank, " he
says. " Most all of our operations' employees
have earned numerous certifications from
the Northwest Lineman College's program. "
In retirement, Wheatley plans to continue
to be active in community, civic and
church affairs in his home of Easton,
Maryland. " There's a lot of opportunity
where we live and that's kind of continuing
in the co-op spirit. " 
Wheatley draws lucky numbers
with Director John Burke.
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Cooperative Living October 2019

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