Chip Nelson, Cobb EMC’s longtime chief operating officer, was named president and CEO of the electric cooperative late Monday.
Nelson had served as interim leader of the Marietta-based co-op since February 28, when former CEO Dwight Brown resigned under provisions of a 2008 settlement agreement between the company and suing customers.
Nelson has worked for Cobb EMC for 37 years, including the past seven as COO, and becomes the co-op’s sixth chief executive since its beginning in 1938.
"In my opinion, we have the greatest employees in the world at Cobb EMC,” said Nelson in a statement. “It will be an honor to work with them in fulfilling our mission of providing a reliable supply of electricity at the best possible price for our members.”
Cobb EMC had no further comment.
Nelson’s selection is the latest movement in the ongoing saga with the co-op and its leadership.
Last week Brown was re-indicted on 35 counts of intimidating witnesses, racketeering and theft. Previous indictments handed down in January were thrown out in a technicality. The co-op had sought to rehire Brown for his leadership position, but a Cobb judge rejected the request. Brown has been working as a consultant for the company, and it is unclear what impact Nelson’s selection will have on Brown’s future with the co-op.
Earlier Monday, Georgia Public Service Commission Chairman Stan Wise issued his own statement confirming that he was not a candidate for the CEO position.
Rumors surfaced last week that Wise, a longtime friend of former Cobb EMC chief Dwight Brown, had emerged as the electric cooperative’s top candidate, an unpopular move with some EMC customers and employees.
Cobb EMC customers sued the co-op in the 2007 for creating a for-profit business and siphoning co-op assets to it. The co-op has not held new board elections since the legal troubles began. The co-op hopes to have a plan for an initial meeting and board elections ready for review by July 13, a Cobb EMC spokesman said last week. All 10 members of the EMC's board are scheduled to appear before a Cobb judge on Aug. 12 for a compliance hearing on the provisions of the settlement agreement.
"I think they needed to pick somebody that knew the personnel and I think he [Nelson] could be the right person," said Edgar "Bo" Pounds, one of the suing customers in the 2007 case. "With the possibility of having a new board, they really need somebody like him. ... The employees really like him and that to me counts."
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