Mike Partin, president and CEO of Sequachee Valley Electric Cooperative (SVEC), began his two-year term as president of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) board of directors. Tony Anderson, NRECA’s outgoing board president and former CEO of Cherryland Electric Cooperative in Michigan, passed the gavel to Partin during PowerXchange, NRECA’s annual meeting on March 12, 2025.

Partin was elected NRECA president by the association’s board of directors. He is the immediate past vice president and previously served as secretary-treasurer. Ingrid Kessler, director at Lane Electric Cooperative in Oregon, was elected vice president.

“I want to express my appreciation to NRECA’s board for this tremendous opportunity,” said Partin, who has served on the association’s board for five years. “This is an exciting time for electric cooperatives as we seek innovative ways to meet surging electricity demand and deliver reliable and affordable power to our communities. Our success is crucial to the families and businesses we serve across the nation.”

“One of NRECA’s greatest strengths is our dedicated and talented roster of leaders that help electric co-ops tackle our biggest challenges and make the most of every new opportunity,” said NRECA CEO Jim Matheson. “I look forward to Mike’s leadership of our board of directors.”

Since 2015, Partin has served as CEO and President of SVEC, which provides electric service across parts of nine southeastern Tennessee counties, including four in their entirety. He joined the NRECA board in 2020 and also serves on the boards of the Cooperative Finance Corporation and Seven States Power. Additionally, he is the chairman of the Southeast Industrial Development Association.

The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association is the national trade association representing nearly 900 local electric cooperatives. From growing suburbs to remote farming communities, electric co-ops serve as engines of economic development for 42 million Americans across 56 percent of the nation’s landscape. As local businesses built by the consumers they serve, electric cooperatives have meaningful ties to rural America and invest $15 billion annually in their communities.