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Clemons Kopf named newest board member of Holy Cross Energy

Ed Grange, who served as the CEO of Holy Cross Energy for 40 years, was one of the attendes at Thursday's 78th annual meeting for the energy cooperative. The meeting is open to all consumer/members of the co-op and was held at 4Eagle Ranch in Eagle County.
Pam Boyd/pboyd@eaglevalleyenterprise.com |

2017-18 Holy Cross Energy Board of Directors

• Kristen Bertuglia, board member since 2012 (northern district)

• Robert Gardner, board member since 2012 (southern district)

• Megan Gilman, board member since 2011 (northern district)

• Michael Glass, board member since 2007 (northern district)

• Clemons Kopf, board member since 2017 (western district)

• David Munk, board member since 2010 (southern district)

• Adam Palmer, board member since 2009 (northern district)

Clemons M. Kopf of Glenwood Springs won the contested election as the western representative for the Holy Cross Energy Board of Directors, it was announced Thursday at the electrical co-op’s annual meeting.

Kopf topped four other candidates for the post: David Hornbacher, Tom Edward VonDette, Jared W. Kerst and Adam L. Wibby.

Kopf is an electrical engineer and 47-year resident of Garfield County. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering and served in the U.S. Army. Kopf worked as the chief engineer of Holy Cross Energy from 1970 to 1975 and a consulting electrical engineer for the alpine events site for three Winter Olympic Games (1988, 2002 and 2010). He is a longtime member of the Sierra Club, Environmental Defense Fund and the Crystal River Valley Environmental Protection Association.



Kopf’s public service has included serving as chairman of the Colorado Air Quality Control Commission for 11 years, a member of the Garfield County Board of Review, the Glenwood Springs Fire Department and the Glenwood Spring High School Basketball Referees Association.

One petition was received for the northern district director position from incumbent Megan M. Gilman. Gilman was re-elected for another three-year term by acclamation.



The business and affairs of Holy Cross Energy are directed by its board of directors. The board consists of seven directors, who are elected to represent three geographic districts: the western district with one director, the northern district with four directors and the southern district with two directors.

The co-op’s owners are the 55,000 residents from Eagle, Pitkin, Garfield, Mesa and Gunnison counties who get electric service from the company, which was started in 1939.

The annual meeting is a requirement for the company. As an incentive for co-op members to attend, the company serves dinner and offers door prizes at the conclusion of the meeting business. This year’s event was held Thursday at 4Eagle Ranch. The incentive strategy worked, as Randy Starr, general counsel for Holy Cross Energy, announced that 130 members were in attendance and that number constituted the required quorum.

“That beats out last year by 10, and all we need is 50,” he announced with a grin.

This annual meeting marked the end of Del Worley’s tenure as chief executive officer for Holy Cross Energy. Worley has led the co-op for 25 years and is retiring this summer.

Worley was honored for his many contributions to the cooperative, which had an operating revenue in excess of $121 million and supplied more than 1 billion kilowatt hours to consumers last year. The company’s total margin last year — profit that will be returned to consumers in the form of equity checks — was nearly $8.8 million.

The board has hired Brian Hannegan as its new CEO. Hannegan has led research and development teams at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, co-founded the U.S. Department of Energy’s Grid Modernization Laboratory and served as senior advisor to the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.


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