Above / Naperville Director of Public Utilities – Electric Mark Curran, center, accepted the IMEA Chairman’s Board Member of the Year Award from IMEA Board Chairman Greg Hazel, left, and IMEA President & CEO Kevin Gaden.
Naperville’s Director of Public Utilities – Electric Mark Curran accepted the Illinois Municipal Electric Agency (IMEA) Chairman’s Board Member of the Year award at the agency’s annual meeting and awards banquet on Nov. 4 in Springfield, Ill.
The award was given by IMEA Board Chairman Greg Hazel, who is the Director of Public Works for the Village of Rantoul, Ill. The award recognizes Curran’s commitment to reliable and innovative service to Naperville’s more than 59,000 electric accounts and his ability to bring that experience to his board service at the IMEA. Hazel also noted that Curran’s “calm rationality is an asset to IMEA board deliberations.”
In presenting the award, Hazel praised Curran for his many contributions in the short time he’s been on the board. Curran joined the board in 2010 when Allen Poole, the City’s former Director of Public Utilities and IMEA Board representative, retired.
Over the past six years, Curran has served on the IMEA’s Electric Efficiency and Conservation Committee, which instituted an agency-wide program that resulted in an estimated savings of more than 40 million kilowatt hours per year across all agency member communities. He has been elected by his peers to IMEA’s Executive Board and is currently Vice Chairman of the IMEA Board of Directors. In addition, Curran and other City officials often join other IMEA board members and their city officials at the annual American Public Power Association Legislative Rally in Washington, D.C., each spring. This event is an opportunity to discuss issues that are important to the continued success of municipal utilities across the country with members of Congress and other federal officials.
What’s IMEA?
The Illinois Municipal Electric Agency or IMEA, of which Naperville is a member, is a joint action agency made up of 32 municipal electric systems and one rural electric cooperative. Its primary function is to provide wholesale electricity to its members, which they, in turn, supply to their communities’ homes and businesses. Each agency member selects a representative to the agency’s board.
For more information on the City of Naperville, visit www.naperville.il.us. For more information on the IMEA, visit www.imea.org.
Story and photo submitted by Kate Schultz for the City of Naperville.
