Midwest Electric is planning for the future with a new employee hire and several internal position changes:

• Employee Joel Johns (St. Marys) is moving into employee Dave Waltermire’s position as Business Development Coordinator upon Dave’s retirement in 2021. This position is responsible for economic and community development, commercial accounts, energy use advice, and member service programs like appliance rebates and peak load management.
   
• Employee Derek Backs (St. Marys) is moving into John’s former position as Engineering Technician. This position is responsible for overseeing the co-op’s Automated Metering Infrastructure (AMI), which includes the programming, installation, and troubleshooting of digital meters, as well as meter data analysis for billing, outage management, and mapping.
   
• New hire Paul Pfenning (St. Marys) has accepted Back’s former position of Operations Clerk at the cooperative. This position is responsible for warehouse and inventory operations, as well as assisting with dispatching. Previously, Pfenning was a CDL Class A truck driver for American Manufacturing Solutions in St. Marys with logistics experience. He also served in the U.S. Air Force in a variety of security roles, including law enforcement and security, and has certifications from the Southeast Lineman Training Center’s electrical lineworker training program in Georgia. He is a graduate of St. Marys Memorial High School.

Fun Fact: During Pfenning’s time in Air Force, he served a security assignment to the Vice President and Secretary of State!

All three employees reside in St. Marys. Johns has been with Midwest Electric since 2014; Backs has been with the co-op since 2018.

Midwest Electric wishes them all the best in their new roles!