SDCEA Welcomes New COO

Sangre de Cristo Electric Association recently named Bryon Stilley its new chief operations officer. As COO, Stilley will lead the oversight of all engineering and operations functions at SDCEA.

Stilley brings an extensive background in the electric cooperative field to SDCEA. He began his career as an apprentice lineman, eventually earning his journeyman lineman designation. Stilley then went to college and obtained a bachelor’s degree in business and communications from Concordia University in St. Paul, Minnesota. He continued his career after college, becoming assistant manager of engineering for a 40,000-meter cooperative in Minnesota for eight years. He then accepted a COO position in central Iowa and later became general manager at that cooperative for more than four years.

Stilley said he looks forward to finishing his career at SDCEA. Wife Ashlee, daughters Ava and Georgia and son Beckett are in the process of moving to the area. He said he and Ashlee look forward to raising their children here.

As Stilley becomes familiar with the details of his new job, one of the things he identified as a priority is system-wide vegetation management and wildfire prevention.

“Having a robust inspection and maintenance program can isolate and eliminate potential problems before they become something more serious. This will allow anyone that is enjoying the natural beauty of our service territory to thoroughly enjoy it without worrying about our lines impacting their safety or public or private property,” Stilley said.

“That’s something I take very seriously,” he added, emphasizing it is SDCEA’s commitment to provide safe, reliable power to consumers.