Dec 9, 2021 | Latest News
East River Electric Power Cooperative General Manager and CEO Tom Boyko was elected Dec. 8 to serve as the next president of the Mid-West Electric Consumers Association board of directors during the organization’s annual meeting in Denver. Boyko will serve a two-year term as board president. The Mid-West Electric Consumers Association, headquartered in Denver, promotes and protects the interests of federal power customers and their consumers across the Upper Midwest who purchase renewable hydropower from federal dams across the region. East River Electric is a customer of the Western Area Power Administration which markets federal hydropower.
“I’m honored to serve as Mid-West Electric’s board president,” said Boyko. “The organization and its members are focused on providing affordable and reliable power to consumers across our region by providing them with renewable hydropower from the region’s federal dams. I hope to continue the progress and success that Mid-West Electric has achieved over the years and continue to prepare the organization to respond to future challenges and opportunities.”
Boyko, who has been East River’s CEO since 2014, has served as the vice president of the Mid-West Electric board for the past year, and previously served as the organization’s board secretary/treasurer. Mid-West Electric monitors rates and their cost components that the Western Area Power Administration charges for federal hydropower and works closely with Congress, the Army Corps of Engineers and the federal Bureau of Reclamation to promote the interests of the consumer-owned utilities who purchase hydropower that serves consumers across the Upper Midwest.
PHOTO CUTLINE: L to R: Vernell Roberts, Vice President from Detroit Lakes Public Utilities in Minnesota; Patti Murphy, Secretary/Treasurer from McCone Electric Cooperative in Montana; Tom Boyko, President from East River Electric Power Cooperative in South Dakota
Dec 8, 2021 | Latest News
On Dec. 8, Jim Ryken, who serves on the Clay-Union Electric Corporation board of directors, was awarded the prestigious Simonton-Graves award from the Mid-West Electric Consumers Association. Ryken received the award in recognition for his long-standing service to Mid-West, an organization that works closely with the federal agencies that market renewable hydropower from the dams on the Missouri River. Hydropower currently makes up more than 17 percent of Clay-Union Electric’s power supply through its regional wholesale power supplier East River Electric Power Cooperative. Mid-West President Tim Peggram presented Ryken with the award during the association’s annual meeting in Denver.
“For more than 30 years, Jim has been committed to serving the electric cooperative community,” said East River Electric General Manager and CEO Tom Boyko. “Ryken’s contributions at Clay-Union Electric, East River Electric, Mid-West Electric Consumers Association and within other associations have helped shape the success of the region’s electric cooperatives in providing safe, affordable and reliable electricity. His service has also helped protect the important clean and renewable hydropower resource for the region’s consumers.”
As a member-owner of Clay-Union Electric, Ryken serves as Clay-Union’s representative on the East River board of directors and has served on the local Clay-Union Electric board since 1989. He currently serves as Clay-Union’s board secretary and as president of East River’s board of directors. Ryken served on the Mid-West Electric Consumers Association board of directors from 2009-2017.
Ryken is a graduate of Gayville-Volin High School and attended Northern College in Aberdeen. He is a member of the South Dakota Soybean Association as well as the Clay-Union Irrigators. Ryken and his wife Margo have two children. He farms south of Gayville.
PHOTO CUTLINE: L to R: Mid-West Electric Consumers Association Board President Tim Peggram, East River Electric Power Cooperative Board President Jim Ryken and Mid-West Electric Consumers Association Executive Director Jim Horan.
