Adelaide Zumwalt, Umatilla Electric Cooperative’s IT manager, received recognition for completing the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association’s (NRECA)
Management Internship Program (MIP).
The Robert I. Kabat Management Internship Program is a comprehensive, six-week program that provides an in-depth analysis of the functions and processes of cooperative management. Onsite portions of the MIP are held at the University of Wisconsin.
Zumwalt began her career with UEC in the spring of 2015 as a GIS specialist. In this role, she was able to get hands-on experience with UEC infrastructure, which ultimately helped her advance in her career at UEC – first being promoted to GIS administrator before taking over the reins of her current role as UEC’s manager of IT, which has been very rewarding for her.
“Being able to build an awesome team that collaborates, takes the lead on large projects, and is supportive of other department initiatives has been incredibly satisfying,” said Zumwalt.
During her time at UEC, Zumwalt has helped lead UEC to become Oregon’s largest consumer-owned utility, and the largest electric cooperative in the 10 western states in terms of power sales.
“UEC is grateful to have Adelaide on its team,” said Josh Lankford, UEC vice president of
Engineering, Operations & IT. “Adelaide is a key contributor to UEC’s success, and we are excited to see where she applies her learnings from NRECA’s program.”
Before joining the cooperative world, she worked in various GIS roles for a pipeline engineering firm and the U.S. Geological Survey doing GIS and biology type work in southeast Oregon.
When discussing the experience during the MIP, Zumwalt noted that the program filled in a lot of gaps for her, particularly on the finance side, where she enhanced her knowledge in UEC’s administrative operations. The MIP focuses on all aspects of a cooperative and provided Zumwalt an opportunity to develop a more rounded understanding of the cooperative model, and how they serve and strengthen communities.
Zumwalt believed the most important piece was getting to know and work with the
other cooperative professionals side-by-side along the way; to gain a different perspective, establish networking relationships, and to have those connections to continue learning from forever.
“What I cherish the most, however, are the lifelong friendships I made with other professionals in the cooperative world”, Zumwalt said.
