Falkenberg takes over as CVEC president and CEO

Russ Falkenberg officially took on the position of president/CEO of Chippewa Valley Electric Cooperative (CVEC) April 3. He says his goals are to carry on the fiscal responsibility those before him built and maintain the positive working environment, as well as helping with new projects on the horizon. Submitted Photo

By Julia Wolf

Russ Falkenberg officially stepped into the role of president/ CEO of Chippewa Valley Electric Cooperative (CVEC) April 3, after over 16 years with the co-op.

“I felt pretty honored to be chosen,” said Falkenberg. Falkenberg took on the role, after previous president/CEO Dean Ortmann retired April 1.

Falkenberg says he is still learning what the position all entails. He says he is also thankful that Ortmann offered to be a resource, if Falkenberg has any questions.

“He’s been very generous with his time,” said Falkenberg. Falkenberg says Ortmann left CVEC in great financial shape and says his biggest goal is to maintain that financial integrity.

Furthermore, Falkenberg says everything is a team effort. “If it weren’t for all of these co-workers, I would have never even considered it,” said Falkenberg.

Falkenberg took on a number of positions, since he was hired in 2006.

“We are not much for titles,” said Falkenberg, who says everyone does a little bit of everything.

He started out as a member services technician/electrician, installing load management receivers. Then, he became the member services director in 2010.

“It was a good move, in that I got to know a lot of the counterparts at other cooperatives,” said Falkenberg.

He says one thing that amazed him about the job, was the cooperation between cooperatives, which is the sixth of seven cooperative principles. Falkenberg says the willingness to share ideas and resources, including staff for emergencies, is really good to be part of.

Falkenberg also worked on IT projects throughout his time with CVEC and added the title of director of IT in 2016.

CVEC also partnered with Citizens Connected to start Ntera, a broadband internet service provider, in 2017, which Falkenberg was also involved in. He says the thought is that broadband, especially for those who are in vacation homes, will encourage people to stay longer.

“That never got proven better than through the COVID(- 19) experience,” said Falkenberg.

By being a cooperative, Falkenberg says every member benefits from the increased revenue that brought.

“That is probably the accomplishment I’m most proud of,” said Falkenberg.

He says the camaraderie among the group like he has never seen before and they treat each other like family.

An example of that is when Falkenberg was new to CVEC, about a week in, and happened to mention he was building a clubhouse for his son, Andy, that weekend. A handful of guys showed up to help with it, which Falkenberg says is a great example of the positive culture.

“I just want to keep that going,” said Falkenberg. The clean-up after the tornado that passed through Cadott, a few years back, was also memorable. Falkenberg says, within 45 minutes, every crew member, except one person who was on vacation out-of-state, was in Cadott.

“To work with our crew that night in my hometown, that was something I’ll never forget,” said Falkenberg.

Falkenberg also says there are a lot of projects on the horizon that he wants to help with, whether that is sharing what he learned from his background or clearing roadblocks, so people can do their jobs.

SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) is huge and they are moving forward with it quickly.

“That’s going to add the resiliency to our system, like we haven’t had before,” said Falkenberg.

He also says he hopes the introduction of time-of-use rates will happen in the future, which will help people manage their electric bills more than they can now.

Finally, Falkenberg says he wants to keep CVEC involved in the communities they support.