Leadership Lyceum Podcast
Barbara Nick became President and CEO of Dairyland Power Cooperative in December 2014. In her thirty-seven-year career in the electric and gas industry, Nick has gained a wide range of professional experience, from investor-owned utilities to her current position in a co-op. She’s uniquely qualified to provide critical insight into the differences between the two and the things they have in common.
Tom Linquist is a partner at a leading global executive search firm. He is an expert on executive assessment and leadership development, and can be reached at Linquist@LeadershipLyceum.com.
Barbara Nick became President and CEO of Dairyland Power Cooperative in December 2014. In her thirty-seven-year career in the electric and gas industry, Nick has gained a wide range of professional experience, from investor-owned utilities to her current position in a co-op. She's uniquely qualified to provide critical insight into the differences between the two and the things they have in common.
Nick graciously welcomed us into her office at Dairyland headquarters in La Crosse, Wisconsin, for a discussion about co-ops, IOUs and Green Bay legend Vince Lombardi.
Tom Linquist: What is the history behind the formation of Dairyland Power Cooperative?
Barbara Nick: Dairyland Power Cooperative is a generation and transmission power cooperative. We have twenty-four distribution cooperatives who buy power from us under a long-term wholesale power contract that extends to 2055.
We were formed by our member cooperatives in 1941, encouraged by President Franklin Roosevelt's Rural Electrification Administration to help bring electricity to rural America.