Columbia REA 2024 Board of Directors Elections
Candidate Biographies
District 1
Glen Shipley (Incumbent)
Glen
Shipley is a retired business executive with experience as Chief
Financial and Administrative Officer and General Counsel in multiple
companies ranging from start-ups to publicly traded entities. He holds
BA (Cum Laude) and MBA degrees from UCLA and a JD (Magna Cum Laude)
degree from Seattle University. Mr. Shipley is also an inactive CPA,
CGMA and attorney. His last position was as CFO for a publicly traded
B-to-B cloud-based SAAS messaging company (NASDAQCM: ESIC), which was
sold to Canada’s largest software company. He has worked with private
equity, venture capital, commercial banks and investment bankers on
numerous capital raises and business transactions in both domestic and
international settings. His experience also includes interfacing with
federal, state and local regulatory agencies. Mr. Shipley has been a
director or officer of numerous commercial enterprises and continues to
consult for business on a part-time basis through a Seattle-based
consulting firm. He currently lives on the Southside of Walla Walla
where he and his wife farm a small vineyard.
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Tim Ruybalid
Tim
has lived in Walla Walla for thirteen years, worked in banking for
sixteen years, and currently works in mortgage banking at Numerica
Credit Union. He is a graduate of Walla Walla University, and his wife,
Marion, graduated from Whitman College and works for Walla Walla
University. Together they have 10 children including a daughter
currently in Running Start at Walla Walla Community College and a
daughter and son in the Professional Training Division at Ballet West
in Salt Lake City, Utah. Tim is president-elect for 2025-26 and a board
member of the Rotary Club of Walla Walla, a former Ambassador with the
Walla Walla Valley Chamber of Commerce, a tenor in the Walla Walla
Choral Society, a pianist, and a proud ballet, piano, and musical dad
and husband with several sons, daughters, and his wife performing or
studying with Walla Walla Summer Theater, The Dance Center of Walla
Walla, and the piano studio of Debra Bakland in College Place.
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District 2
Doug Logan (Incumbent)
Doug
Logan is an engineer with 30+ years of experience in multiple areas of
the power industry, including 10 years in utility employment, 15+ years
in consulting, and six years with a technology firm serving the
industry. His clients represent almost every sector of the power
industry and have included both consumer-owned and investor-owned
utilities, regulatory agencies, energy users, power plant developers,
and investors. His expertise includes utility management auditing,
resource planning, reliability analysis, wholesale power market
analysis and forecasting, and decision analysis. He continues to work
as an independent consultant.
Doug
served as Dean and Professor of Engineering at Walla Walla University
for nine years. He has also earned the National Rural Electric
Cooperative Association’s Credentialed Cooperative Director certificate
and was a member of the Walla Walla County Community Health Advisory
Board for more than five years, including four years as chair.
“The
REA has contributed immeasurably to the prosperity and standard of
living in Columbia and Walla Walla counties. It has been a privilege to
have a role in this over the past six years. I hope, over the next
three years, to help extend that contribution into the future.”
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Michael Scrimsher
Columbia
Burbank High School class of 1978 and a manufacturing engineering
degree from BYU. Farmed with my dad Gary Scrimsher during my HS and
college years and evenings. Worked in Southern California on the B-2
Stealth Bomber and then Boeing on military and commercial planes
working in coordinate metrology, photogrammetry and other precision
measurement systems. Excitedly returned to Burbank in 1991. Employed at
a high tech manufacturing site in Richland for the past 28 years
supporting a vital and stable base load of on-demand non CO2 emitting
electrical generation. Happily married for 35 years, with a super
supportive wife and 5 now adult sons; all Eagle scouts. Have
successfully served on 2 other boards; the Columbia Burbank School
board for over 23 years, and Junior Achievement, a nonprofit serving
financial education/literacy in the school system for 9 years. I have a
lot of energy and passion about public power and the REA system, the
industry changes with rooftop solar, and the need of a resilient power
grid while keeping rates down. I would bring to the REA board my
previous board experience.
District 3
Katie Wooldridge (Incumbent)
My
name is Katie Wooldridge and I am currently serving on your Board of
Directors for Columbia Rural Electric Association. I am asking for your
support in the upcoming election to continue to represent you in our
cooperative. I have served on the board for 15 years, 3 of which I was
board president and two years as vice president. I am a Credentialed
Cooperative Director (CCD) and continue to improve my electric industry
education. As part of this board, we have accomplished much together.
We’ve expanded access to reliable electricity, worked with renewable
energy initiatives, and upheld the values of transparency and
accountability that define our cooperative.
I
was born and raised in Walla Walla and Columbia counties and live in
the Starbuck area now. I grew up on my parents’ ranch, Dick and Karen
Rubenser, where working with cattle, baling hay, and moving irrigation
pipe was the norm. This certainly taught me many lessons in hard work
and how important it is to be involved in our communities. I graduated
from Whitman College, where I obtained my teaching degree. I currently
teach middle school in the Starbuck School District, own and operate a
driving school, and remodel houses with my husband. I am also a
volunteer firefighter for our rural fire district and a health coach.
Tony and I love this area as we live, work and play in these
communities and raised our family here as well.
Our
electric cooperatives are such an essential part of our community, and
I am proud to have represented you. Our goal is to provide reliable
power at the lowest possible cost. It is a goal that we continually
strive for. I thank you for your trust, your partnership, and your
commitment to Columbia Rural Electric Cooperative. I ask for your vote
today and for the bright future that lies ahead for us all.
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Robert Stearns
A
lifelong resident of a small farm on the North Touchet River just south
of Dayton, WA. High School graduating class of 1995. After a brief
stint as an Officer at Department of Corrections Walla Walla, I decided
to put my trades education and experience to work by starting a small
business in Dayton. I’ve learned a lot through successes and failures
as a private business owner. I continue to keep my father’s farm
operating with a small herd of cattle and some limited farming, but I
have set my construction tools aside to fill the role of Columbia
County Building Official and Fire Marshal. I look forward to the future
of Columbia REA, with advancements in technology that will better serve
our communities, and an eye on the importance of safeguarding the
systems we already have.
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