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Dean Boyer, Director of Communications
(360) 741-2676, dboyer@wpuda.org

December 6, 2007
Retired Energy Northwest manager receives Washington PUD Association Lifetime Achievement Award

SEATTLE – The Washington Public Utility Districts Association today presented its Life Achievement Award to Shirley Reese, former manager of communications, marketing and member services for Energy Northwest.

Reese accepted the award during the association’s annual meeting in Seattle.

The Lifetime Achievement Award, which recognizes outstanding commitment to the philosophy and purpose of public power and the Washington PUD Association, is the highest honor given by the association.

Reese joined Energy Northwest (then known as the Washington Public Power Supply System) in 1975 as executive assistant to the chief council.

Energy Northwest is a consortium of 20 public power utilities that operates the Columbia Generating Station, the state’s only nuclear power plant, along with hydroelectric, wind, solar and biomass generating facilities.

Over the next 20 years, she held a number of positions in the legal department, including manager of legal support services during the turbulent early 1980s, when the joint operating agency was forced to stop work on four other nuclear power plants because of cost overruns, design changes, growing opposition to nuclear power, and management problems within the company. At one point, Reese managed more than 40 legal clerks and paralegals and coordinated the efforts of 20 attorneys.

Reese later became manager of board-member relations for the consortium, and in 1996, she was named to a newly created position to oversee communications, marketing and member services.

She retired in July 2005, but continues to serve Energy Northwest and other public power utilities as a lobbyist.

Prior to joining Energy Northwest and moving to the Tri-Cities, Reese worked for the Oregon State Board of Education and served on the Oregon Vocational Education Board.

In Reese’s nomination for the Lifetime Achievement Award, former Grant County PUD commissioner and longtime Energy Northwest executive board member Vera Claussen – who received the same award a year ago – said her “continued concern for each member and the public power principles they represent … epitomizes the spirit that moved us out of the WPPSS era to a progressive and dynamic Energy Northwest.”

The Washington PUD Association represents 26 public utility districts and Energy Northwest. Association members provide electricity, water and sewer services, and telecommunications to more than 1.6 million customers across the state.