Winter storms can knock out power

Ken Sugden brings 35 years in the electrical industry and a longtime passion for his profession to his new job as General Manager of Flathead Electric Cooperative.

The Board of Trustees hired Sugden after a six-month search for a new General Manager to replace Dick Heitman, who is retiring.

Sugden, 58, most recently served as General Manager of Franklin Public Utility District, an electric utility serving about 20,000 customer accounts in the Tri-Cities area of Washington State.

"We expect to have good member, staff and employee relationships with Ken at the helm," said Karl Schrade, president of the Flathead Electric Board of Trustees. "The board is confident and looks forward to working with Ken and our staff as a team, maintaining the forward momentum already created."

Sugden will start his new job on Jan. 12, and said he’s excited about working with the board and employees to serve Flathead Electric’s members.

"There are not many jobs in the utility industry that would have enticed me away from Franklin, but the job at Flathead was one of them," he said.

Working on long-term power supply issues and communicating with members about the cooperative philosophy are two areas that he plans to concentrate on as Flathead Electric’s General Manager. He has extensive experience in dealing with complex power supply issues and has worked closely with the Bonneville Power Administration, one of Flathead Electric’s major wholesale power suppliers.

When he interviewed for the job at Flathead Electric, he said, he was impressed by the board and employees.

"I was really impressed with the customer service ethic and also some of the innovative programs Flathead has put together to help its members," he said.

He said he’s also looking forward to living in the Flathead Valley, which reminds him of the Chelan, Wash., area where he grew up. He and his wife, Kathy, enjoy outdoor activities, including golf, fishing, skiing and riding their Harley-Davidson motorcycles. The Sugdens, who will be moving to the Flathead from Pasco in January, have five grown children and five grandchildren.

He was an active member of the community in the Tri-Cities area, and expects to get involved in the Flathead Valley as well. He served on volunteer boards, including United Way, Pasco Chamber of Commerce and Big Brothers and Sisters, as well as the Tri-City Visitor and Convention Bureau.

Sugden has served as Franklin’s general manager since 1988, and previously worked as a consultant. He graduated from Washington State University in electrical engineering, a field that has interested him since a high school science project that involved drawing a schematic of a power plant on Lake Chelan.

"That was when the seed got planted," he said, and he never changed his course. "I feel fortunate to work in an industry where I enjoy going to work every day. I’ve loved my job in the electrical industry ever since I started. I’ve never found it boring."