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Utility Pioneers’ 2025 Member Report

Member Feedback Drives Strategic Solutions and Improved Service  

At Pioneer’s Cooperative Member Meeting on June 26, 2026, experiments and member survey-driven solutions were hot topics. Miss the meeting? You can read a full recap on our blog. Here are the highlights:

Pioneer’s 2025 Member Report

During the podcast-styled virtual meeting, staff and co-op members explored Pioneer’s strategy lab and heard how member feedback drives new solutions, including the Pioneer Portal dashboard and the Wi-Fi Wishbook. 

Utility Pioneers designed, published and told several types of stories together in 2025, including: 

  • Combined magazine circulation rose from 1.47 million to 1.52 million in peak months.  
     
  • Pioneer Social content was seen 151 million times. But we’re not just getting your story out there; people respond to it, too. Engagements rose to more than 5.3 million. 
     
  • Out of those engagements, 119,000 were actively reviewed by our Engagement Specialists on behalf of our 24/7 program subscribers, and the net audience for our Pioneer Social subscribers grew by 77,420. 
     
  • Our creative teams have been busy; we partnered on 1,500 projects and multi-channel coordinated campaigns with Utility Pioneers in 2025. 

Utility leaders are elected by members to guide the communications co-op through Pioneer’s Board of Directors. Three of the board’s nine seats were up for election in 2026. Atlantic District Board Member Marshall Cherry ran for reelection unopposed. Board members Dave Lock and Lisa Johnson stepped down after several years of service. 

Members elected: 

  • Atlantic District: Marshall Cherry, CEO of Roanoke Cooperative in North Carolina 
  • Western District: Jason Bowling, CEO of Sulphur Springs Valley Electric Cooperative in Arizona 
  • At–Large District: Dennis McFee, CEO of the Public Service Commission of Yazoo City in Mississippi 

They serve with the six other Utility Pioneers who guide the cooperative’s strategic goals. Voting was managed by Pioneer’s partner, Survey & Ballot Systems. Send questions or comments for your board members to board@pioneer.coop.  

  • Marshall Cherry

    CEO, Roanoke Cooperative

    Chair, Pioneer Board, Atlantic District

  • Jason Bowling

    Jason Bowling

    CEO, Sulphur Springs Valley Electric Cooperative

    Pioneer Board Member Nominee, West District

  • Dennis McFee

    CEO, Public Service Commission of Yazoo City

    Pioneer Board Member Nominee, At-Large District

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We call our members Utility Pioneers because they are not afraid to forge new paths, build innovative ways to share their stories and connect with the communities they serve.

“I like to think about the story each year tells. If 2024 was the year of strengthening staff, 2025 was the year we tried new things to see what helps our members shine.”Â