Terry Moseley of Greenville and Linda Arnold of Orrville were elected to the Alabama Rural Electric Association of Cooperatives’ Board of Directors during the association’s 69th annual meeting in Montgomery.

Moseley, general manager at Pioneer Electric Cooperative, will serve on the association’s legislative and member services committees. Arnold will serve on the association’s governance and public relations and legislative committees.

AREA’s board also elected Randy Brannon of Pea River Electric Cooperative in Ozark, as chairman; David Hembree of Cullman Electric Cooperative, as vice-chairman; and Daryl Jones of Black Warrior Electric Membership Corporation in Demopolis, as secretary-treasurer.

The annual meeting, held April 13 and 14 in Montgomery, attracted more than 400 electric cooperative leaders and supporters from across the state.

During the meeting, 54 co-op directors from 11 Alabama cooperatives were recognized for completing Advanced Board Leadership Certificates.

The group heard from a number of state officials, including Fitzgerald Washington, commissioner of the Alabama Department of Labor; Ed Crowell, senior vice president of VT Miltope; Steve Brown, chief of staff at the Alabama Department of Corrections; Mary McLaury, chief operating officer for Touchstone Energy Cooperative; and John Rawls, special agent with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

AREA also gave its AREA Eminent Service Award to E. A. “Bucky” Jakins, retired CEO of Baldwin EMC, for his outstanding contributions to the rural electric program; the AREA Pathfinder Award to Nelson Vinson, longtime attorney for the Tombigbee Electric Cooperative, for his extraordinary service to the electric cooperatives of Alabama; and the Jack Jenkins Award to Aubun “Clyde” Abrams Jr., senior vice president, administrative services, Baldwin EMC, for his outstanding contributions to his cooperative, community and state.

In other recognition, Michelle Geans from Baldwin Electric Membership Cooperative received the 2016 Darryl Gates Communicator of the Year award, named for AREA’s longtime vice president of communications who passed away in 2012.

Charlie Platt, host of the Charlie Platt Show on WDHN-TV in Dothan, won the AREA Award for Media Excellence for his well-rounded, balanced and unbiased coverage of electric cooperative activities.

The Alabama Rural Electric Association of Cooperatives is a federation of not-for-profit electric cooperatives, which provide dependable electricity to more than 1 million Alabamians in 64 counties.