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Blue Ridge Energy Announces March Retirement of CEO Doug Johnson; Woodle Appointed by Board as Next CEO
Doug Johnson
Katie Woodle
Blue Ridge Energy has announced the retirement of long time Chief Executive Officer Doug Johnson, who joined the cooperative in 1979 and has served in the CEO role since 1989.
Johnson will continue as CEO through the end of March, 2025. He will then serve in a transitional consultant role through the end of June, 2025, when he officially retires.
Jeff Joines, President of the Board of Directors for Blue Ridge Energy, thanked Johnson for his years of excellent service, saying “You have helped make Blue Ridge the best cooperative in the country.”
Joines said he is very pleased to announce the decision by the Board of Directors for the appointment of the cooperative’s next CEO: Katie Woodle, an Alleghany County native who has served as Chief Financial Officer of Blue Ridge Energy since 2012. Woodle moves into her new role April 1, 2025.
During Johnson’s 46-year career with the cooperative, he has led the cooperative with great distinction, leading Blue Ridge to a number of significant milestones that have benefitted the member-owners.
For example, in 1998, the cooperative diversified to include a propane and fuels subsidiary, and later added a second subsidiary: RidgeLink, a business-to-business dark fiber provider. The subsidiaries not only add jobs and vital services locally, but their success is also helping hold down member rates.
Beginning in 2003, Johnson also provided the leadership necessary for the cooperative to secure and manage its own wholesale power purchases rather than using outside entities. This has also benefitted members by helping hold down rates due to more favorable wholesale power cost.
Throughout the years, the most important part of leadership for Johnson has been ensuring a culture of employees who have a servant’s heart. Blue Ridge Energy is consistently ranked among the top five of all utilities across the nation for its customer service. “I want to personally express my appreciation to all our Blue Ridge Energy employees, present and past, who deliver incredible results to our member-owners and customers on a daily basis,” Johnson said. “Our culture is based on strong values, hard work and a deep belief that providing excellent service to our members and customers is our highest priority!”
Johnson has also led Blue Ridge Energy to be recognized in the top quartile of all utilities in the nation for reliability. “I want to thank our line technicians, engineers and other technical staff who play a huge role in this recognition,” Johnson said. Efforts under Johnson’s tenure that have contributed to reliability include a renewed vegetation management program and significant grid modernization projects now in place that will continue providing reliable service for the next generation of cooperative members.
“I am very honored to have had the opportunity to lead this organization, to work with the employees and to serve the member-owners and customers of Blue Ridge Energy,” Johnson said. “And I am excited about future possibilities and achieving great things through the leadership of the next Chief Executive Officer, Katie Woodle.”
In discussing the upcoming transition and announcing Woodle as the next CEO of Blue Ridge Energy, Joines said the Board of Directors met over the past several months to carefully study and consider the cooperative’s next CEO.
“We’re pleased Katie Woodle has accepted our offer and will lead the cooperative to new and greater things,” Joines said on behalf of the Board.
Blue Ridge Energy is a member-owned electric cooperative utility serving some 80,000 members in Caldwell, Watauga, Ashe and Alleghany counties and part of Wilkes, Avery, and Alexander counties. The cooperative has offices in Caldwell, Watauga, Ashe and Alleghany counties. Learn more at www.BlueRidgeEnergy.com.