Dewald retires after 24 years of service

Serving as a director of an electric cooperative requires commitment, passion and understanding. Director Dean Dewald has dedicated 24 years to KEM Electric Cooperative as a humble guiding voice.

After the Annual Meeting on June 9, Dewald will retire from the KEM Electric Board of Directors. Dewald spent his years on the board ensuring members’ voices were heard and they understood the work being done at the cooperative to establish longevity.

Representation
KEM Electric has a long tradition of powering our communities, and our employees and directors take that responsibility seriously. 

As a member since 1979, Dewald shares that same passion and commitment to ensure the cooperative’s long-term success. His desire to promote equal representation and give all members a voice inspired Dewald to seek a seat on the board of directors.

“Our district, our area and our members needed someone,” Dewald says. “Someone needed to stand up for the district.”

Dewald heard the prior District 5 director was not seeking reelection, and he thought he would run.

At the time, Dewald was ranching and working as a crop insurance adjuster. Along with community commitments, he was raising his family with his wife, Robin. But he knew representation was important, and that dedication earned him a spot on the board, being elected to the District 5 director position in June 2002.

Dedication
Being on a cooperative board requires time, knowledge and understanding. Dean was fortunate to have a few guiding hands to help him learn the ropes the first few years. These are mentors he calls “statesmen.”

“I was fortunate to have mentors. They took me under their wing,” Dean says.

His mentors ranged from local KEM Electric directors Milton Brandner and Adolph Feyereisen to those across the river, including Slope Electric directors Jim Kerzman and John Lee Njos. 

“These four guys, I call them statesmen. They were good to me and helpful to me. They were a world of knowledge,” Dean says.

He says it takes about three years to fully understand the scope of the work being done at the cooperative, so it is important to have people to lean on and ask questions. 

“You need to lean on people when you’re new to understand what’s been done in the past and needs to be done in the future,” Dean says. 

Another important skill Dean emphasizes as a director is the willingness to listen.

“You have to listen and learn to try to be like those mentors,” he says.

Connection to community
Dean is active in the Dawson community, which helped him succeed as a director. He has established relationships with many of the people in the area, so he’s approachable. 

Dean, who also ranches, has worked as a crop insurance adjuster and currently is an area claims manager, managing 12 adjusters. He has served on his church board, the Kidder County Sportsman Association board and served as tax director for five years. Along with his involvement with his family and their activities, Dean is well known throughout the community, which made his top priority easy to accomplish, because he is working for people he knew. 

“I’m working for the members,” he says. 

While on the board, he worked with his fellow directors to keep rates affordable, enhance reliability and ensure a strong system for the present and the future. If he hears questions or concerns from KEM Electric’s membership, he takes the time to visit with the members, listen and update them on what the cooperative is doing.

Through the years, Dean has worked toward keeping reliability and costs affordable.

Times have changed in the electric industry since 2002, and Dean says the speed of change, driven by our more instantaneous world, is one of the biggest differences he’s seen during his years on the board. 

“Everything in our world is instant,” Dean says. “Now things happen instantly and it impacts our world."

Dean encourages new directors to listen and learn as much as they can during their first years on the board to gain an understanding of the board and industry. He also encourages them to find a mentor to be a helping guide, like he was for some fellow directors.

“When a position came up for my district 12 years ago, I called Dean to see what a director job was all about," says Victor Wald, the KEM Electric Board Chairman. “He encouraged me to run, and he has been my mentor ever since.” 

Wald says they have carpooled to hundreds of meetings and have had conversations about board matters, but also farming, family and life. Dean will be missed in the boardroom by all at KEM Electric.

Dean’s commitment to the members makes him an irreplaceable asset to KEM Electric. Dean will officially retire from the board after the KEM Electric Annual Meeting on June 9 in Napoleon. He looks forward to time with his family, looking after cattle, and watching college basketball and cheering on his Duke team.

KEM Electric would like to wish him well and thank him for his time, knowledge and guidance to theboard, employees and membership.