General Manager, Bill Kopacz, of Midstate Electric Cooperative, La Pine, will retired from the co-op on March 31. With the announcement of Bill’s retirement last year, Dave Schneider was promoted to the position of assistant general manager to work closely with Bill to ensure a smooth transition upon his departure. At the annual meeting in May, the board announced that effective April 1, 2013, Dave would be the general manager.
Kopacz has more than 40 years of service to Oregon rural electric co-ops. He was customer service manager at Umatilla Electric in Hermiston, Oregon from 1972 to 1990 and has served as general manager of Midstate Electric since May 1990—the longest tenure of any manager at the co-op. During his 22 years at Midstate Electric, he has seen the co-op grow by more than 7,000 members.
Throughout his career, Kopacz served as a director for several co-op organizations at the national, regional, state and local levels. He most recently completed three terms as a director of the National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corporation.
Schneider has worked at Midstate Electric for 18 years. He was hired as accounting supervisor in 1995 and promoted to accounting manager in 2008. He is a licensed CPA with a bachelor’s degree in business management from California State University-Chico. With over 25 years of management experience, he first entered the utility industry in 1991.
