Rock Energy Holds 89th Annual Meeting

Rock Energy Cooperative held its 89th Annual Meeting on Monday, April 7, 2025, at the Eclipse Center in Beloit, WI. Just under 400 people were in attendance, representing 213 co-op members.

During the meeting, 2025 Rock Energy director elections were announced for districts 2, 4, and 9. Presiding over the elections was attorney Jessica Shrestha. Directors elected are as follows:    
•    Marian Trescher – District 2 (re-elected)
•    Todd Thompson – District 4 (re-elected)
•    David Diestler – District 9 (new board member)

        

Pictured Above: (left to right):  Marian Trescher, Todd Thompson and David Diestler

New board member David Diestler replaces former board member Wendell Boyer in District 9. Boyer opted not to run for re-election this year.

Calling the meeting to order and providing opening remarks was Board Vice-Chair Barb Miller, followed by an address from Rock Energy CEO Shane Larson. Miller also provided the Official Notice of the Annual Meeting, Treasurer’s Report, and Chairman’s Report. 

      

LEFT: Shane Larson, Rock Energy CEO, talks with a co-op members at the 2025 annual meeting. RIGHT: Dinner is served at the Eclipse Center in Beloit at the annual meeting.

In Miller’s opening address, she began by acknowledging the passing of Rock Energy’s board chairman, Clark Schoonover. 

“Under normal circumstances this annual meeting would be directed by our board chair Clark Schoonover,” Miller said. “It’s with a heavy heart that I tell you that Clark peacefully passed away Wednesday of last week. With the love of his life Alice at his side, his last days were enjoyed with the visits of his many friends. He was comforted in being surrounded by his wife of 50 years, Alice, and other family members.”

   

Clark Schoonover, Rock Energy Board Chairman (April 6, 1953 - April 2, 2025)

A tribute to Clark (slideshow) was shown on the large screens later in the evening.

CEO Address

While addressing the co-op members, Larson made a point of reiterating that the co-op’s investment in the West Riverside plant has proved to be a good financial decision.

“Financially we had a good year in 2024,” Larson said. “We have healthy financials. For those that don’t know we own a small portion of the generating facility between Janesville and Beloit called the West Riverside Energy Center, and that ownership has contributed strongly to our financials.”

“We continue to invest in our plant, which includes our poles, our wire equipment material, etc.,” said Larson. “We invested about 4% of our total utility plant, which is about 6.5 million. Our total utility plant is about 175 million. To put that into perspective, when I started in 2000, that was 17 million, so, 175 million today and 25 years ago, 17 million. So, you can see that we’ve definitely grown from that aspect.” 

Larson also mentioned in his address that the co-op and its board members are always looking forward and ready to address challenges, such as electric vehicles, fluctuating natural gas prices and supply chain issues.

“Overall, I think we’re well positioned for future challenges,” Larson said. “We have a great staff, we’ve got a dedicated board and, again, we’re well positioned to move forward with whatever the challenges are on behalf of our membership.”
  
Also this year, Rock Energy has a new attorney, Jessica Shrestha.

“This is Jessica’s first time at our annual meeting,” said Miller. “She’s been doing a wonderful job as our corporate counsel since the retirement of our long-time attorney Niles Berman.”

As the evening’s dinner was served, the co-op’s Education Committee, which is comprised of board secretary Marian Trescher, board member Bill Fischer and Miller, recognized the 2025 scholarship winners on stage. Each of the scholarship winners addressed the member audience by stating their name, high school, college choice and future area of study. Twenty of the 25 scholarship winners were in attendance at the scholarship presentation.

     

Pictured above, left to right, scholarship winners Camryn Czerwinski, Milton HS, and Carter Freedlund, Hononegah HS, address the crowd at Rock Energy's annual meeting during the scholarship presentation.

The scholarships are awarded to high school graduating seniors that reside in our distribution area. This year, the Rock Energy scholarship selection committee received 64 applications. These recipients represent 12 different high schools in our area. Each scholarship is in the amount of $1,000. Rock Energy has increased the number of scholarships awarded to 25, which is 10 more than years past when 15 scholarships were handed out. 

“Overall, the selection committee was very impressed by these applicants with their high grade point averages, their commitment and involvement in school and community activities, as well as their ambitious plans in their area of study,” said Trescher. 

Also announced during the scholarship presentation were 13 second-year scholarship winners. Those students, going into their sophomore year of college next year, were not in attendance.