New chairman expects to stay the course, promotes board skills

In many ways, running a generation and transmission cooperative is a lot like operating a large grain farm. You study the marketplace, try to project what will be needed a year from now, make your best decisions with the information you have and do a bit of hedging to provide some financial protection. Then you wait to see what Mother Nature has in store for you. If the weather cooperates, you’ll appear to be brilliant. 
 
It’s a scenario Jon Rettinger understands very well. He returned to the family farm near Bourbon in Marshall County in 1988, a year Northern Indiana farmers remember well as one of the hottest on record. The longtime director of Marshall County REMC joined the Wabash Valley board nearly a dozen years ago, and stepped into the role of Chairman in late April.
 
“When I first came on the board, the big buzzwords were deregulation, competition, and customer choice,” Jon recalled recently. “As a board, we were able to maneuver through the trying times with Enron, and Wabash Valley came through relatively unscathed.”
 
Just as savvy farmers will use the winter months to catch up on the latest techniques and technology, Jon believes that continuing education is critical for co-op directors. “You have to be sure you stay up-to-date with current events, so you’ll be prepared to make those decisions when they occur.” That explains why he’s particularly pleased with the board development program that will be launched soon.
 
“We’re looking at making some online computer training available so the directors will be able to learn at their own convenience,” he explained. “That way, we can allow directors to take advantage of that training over their laptops or home computers. The more opportunities we can provide for them to stay current with the ever-changing electric power industry, the better for all of us.” Jon added that the board will likely look at policies to open up more opportunities for ongoing education.
 
He has been part of the strategies developed during recent years, and doesn’t anticipate any major changes of direction in the foreseeable future. “We just have to keep our eyes on the horizon. We want to be sure that our generating assets are operating efficiently and within regulations,” he noted. “There could be some big dollars attached to making everything comply with new regulations as we move forward.”
 
“While we look at the distribution co-ops as our customers, we also have to focus on the welfare of the people at the other end of the power lines,” Jon added. “We want to make sure they’re using the power we sell efficiently, so they can get as much value out of it as possible. That means we’ll continue to look at opportunities for efficiency, conservation, and demand response.”
 
Maintaining Wabash Valley’s healthy financial ratios is another priority, as is building upon the relationships with Hoosier Energy and other partners. “As an organization, we’re nearly 50 years old, but we need to keep going forward as we look to the future,” Jon said. “It’s a wonderful organization with a great staff and good directors.”
 
He left the family farm after high school to attend Purdue University. After earning a degree in agricultural engineering in 1982, he spent three years with Cummins Engine’s new product field testing unit before returning to West Lafayette for a Master’s degree. During graduate school, he helped horticultural experts develop computer technology for Indiana’s muskmelon growers.
 
Jon met Jeanette at Purdue, and the two of them have raised Kelly, a current Boilermaker, and Kyle, who is studying at Concordia College in Wisconsin. When Jon and Jeanette aren’t tending to the farm or cheering their alma mater in Ross-Ade Stadium, they’re probably volunteering at their church. And, when he has any additional “spare” time, he helps his father market seed corn to local growers.