Blue Ridge Bestows Elite Honors on Four Employees
For Immediate Release
Contact: Renee Whitener, Director of Corporate Communications, Blue Ridge Electric Membership Corporation, (828) 758-2383 ext. 3213; Pager:1-800-471-1323;
or E-mail: Renee Whitener
Boone, North Carolina (October 21, 2004) – It was a night for “the stars” at Blue Ridge Electric Membership Corporation and Blue Ridge Energies, LLC, as four employees were honored recently with the company’s top awards during the annual employee service and special awards celebration held at the Broyhill Inn and Conference Center in Boone.
“This is the highest honor a Blue Ridge employee can receive—the winners are nominated and selected by their peers—their co-workers,” said Chief Executive Officer Doug Johnson, referencing the four special recognition awards given for spirit, community service, and overall operational excellence. “The Blue Ridge crystal awards are part of our effort to recognize the valuable contributions our employees make every day to serve the member-owners and customers of Blue Ridge Electric and Blue Ridge Energies,” he added.
Winner of the Touchstone Commitment to Community Award:
The winner of the 2004 Touchstone Commitment to Community Award is Robert Kent, director of operations for Blue Ridge Electric. The Touchstone Commitment to Community Award is given annually to the employee who best demonstrates Touchstone Energy and Blue Ridge values for outstanding leadership in local communities. Award winners demonstrate a “servant’s heart and attitude” and have a reputation for honesty, integrity, and for building morale and team spirit among co-workers as well as within their community.
Kent, who has a 23-year history with Blue Ridge Electric, has a lengthy record of community service in Caldwell County. He has volunteered with Caldwell Friends as a mentor to young children and has been active providing outreach community service at College Avenue Baptist Church. Kent has also volunteered with Special Olympics and as a coach with Little League baseball.
One of the most significant ways Kent has impacted the community is in helping establish a scholarship for nursing students in honor of his late wife, Kathy, a registered nurse who was attending school to earn her master’s degree.
Kent lives in Lenoir with his three children, Robbie, Andrew and Clair.
In honor of his recognition, Kent received a hand formed lead crystal sculpture on an engraved brushed metal base and a cash award.
Winner of the Blue Ridge Spirit Award:
Chelo Copper, customer service center representative, is the recipient of the Blue Ridge Spirit Award.
The Spirit Award is given to the employee who best demonstrates the heart and soul of the Blue Ridge companies and the mission of service they were founded upon. Exemplifying “service to people as the greatest work in life” is a key attribute of this award winner.
Copper is recognized for treating Blue Ridge members just like family. She assists the Spanish-speaking membership of Blue Ridge Electric and is known for her compassion, patience and helpfulness in guiding Spanish-speaking members through their efforts to set up electric service, pay their bill, report outages, or answer any question they may have. Her co-workers say she goes above the call of duty by referring Spanish-speaking members to other helpful organizations they may need.
A native of Madrid, Spain, Copper came to the United States as a young adult. She lives in Lenoir with her husband and three children, Chuck, Billy and Jacob.
In honor of her recognition, Copper received a hand formed Steuben “Star Stream” crystal sculpture on an engraved black marble base and a cash award.
Touchstone Overall Excellence Awards
Two Touchstone Overall Excellence Awards are designed to give special recognition to two employees—one from Blue Ridge Electric and one from Blue Ridge Energies—who demonstrate exceptional customer service and operational expertise. The recipients of this award are selected for meeting stringent criteria including responding to consumer needs, finding new and innovative ways of meeting consumer and co-worker needs, and helping build employee, member and customer relationships.
The winner of the Blue Ridge Electric Touchstone Overall Excellence Award is Mike Lowe, communications/fiber optics manager. Lowe has a long history with Blue Ridge Electric, and the work of his department touches all of the Blue Ridge system and each of the 67,000 consumers served by Blue Ridge Electric.
Working in a highly technical field, Lowe is respected for his knowledge and expertise in areas that contribute to member communications with the cooperative as well as critical communications from between our electric plant system and system operators. His work includes overseeing the fiber optics that enable the computerized equipment in substations to communicate information about power load, voltage, and any problems on the lines through the SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) system that system operators monitor 24 hours a day, seven days a week. His work contributes in communications plays a critical role in Blue Ridge Electric’s mission of providing highly reliable power and restoring outages as quickly and safely as possible.
Lowe lives with his wife, Linda, in the Collettsville community.
In recognition of his award, Lowe was presented an engraved “Celestial” crystal award as well as a cash gift.
Ridge Energies Touchstone Overall
Excellence Award:
The winner of the Blue Ridge Energies Touchstone Overall Excellence Award is Shelia Williams, fuel management supervisor of Blue Ridge Energies.
Williams is known for her positive attitude, no matter the circumstances. Her co-workers say she is highly motivated and can always be counted on to get the job done. She has a reputation of working long hours and makes her herself available on weekends to take care of issues that may arise with commercial gasoline customers. Her expertise in fuel management contributes to the high customer service scores received by the company and she is highly respected for her job knowledge and innovative ways to accomplish goals and objectives set by Blue Ridge Energies.
Both employees and customers of Blue Ridge Energies respect Williams for her passionate customer service and friendly nature.
Williams lives in Granite Falls with her husband, Johnny.
She received an engraved “Celestial” crystal award and a cash gift.
Blue Ridge Electric is a not-for-profit electric cooperative serving some 67,000 members in Caldwell, Watauga, Ashe, Alleghany, Wilkes and Alexander counties. Its subsidiary, Blue Ridge Energies, provides propane, heating fuels, wholesale gasoline, and hearth products such as gas logs and fireplaces from offices in Lenoir, Boone, West Jefferson, Newland, and Hickory.
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