Tri-County Appoints Eccher to Top Management Post

MANSFIELD, PA (March 29, 2006) - Tri-County Rural Electric Cooperative’s board of directors appointed Craig Eccher of Wellsboro as the utility’s president and chief executive officer during a board meeting here Tuesday, March 21.

He replaces Robert O. Toombs of Mansfield, who has stepped down as president and CEO after 19 years at the Tri-County helm. Toombs will continue to have a role within the organization through his position as president and CEO of C&T Enterprises, a subsidiary of Tri-County and its partner cooperative, Claverack Rural Electric, based in Wysox.

Since October 2003, Eccher had served as Tri-County’s executive vice president and chief operating officer. He was appointed to the position as part of a planned transition leading to Toombs’ eventual departure from the cooperative.

As chief operating officer, Eccher was responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operations of the cooperative, budget preparations and interfacing with the board of directors.

“Our interaction with Craig over the past two and a-half years has given us considerable insight into his capabilities and leadership qualities,” said board chairman Dr. James R. Davis of Elkland. “The Tri-County board has been very pleased with the job he has done, and is confident he is the right person to lead the cooperative into the future.”

Eccher joined the Tri-County staff in 1990 as manager of engineering services. Prior to that, he had worked as an electrical engineer for Niagara Mohawk and the New York Power Authority.

In 1998, Eccher became the chief operations officer for Tri-County’s power company subsidiary, Wellsboro Electric Co. A year later he was named Wellsboro Electric’s president and chief executive officer, a post he continues to hold.

Eccher earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the State University of New York at Binghamton and is a graduate of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association’s (NRECA) Robert I. Kabat Management Internship Program at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln.

He serves on the C&T Enterprises board of directors, the Energy Association of Pennsylvania board of directors, the advisory board of Citizens & Northern Bank, the member committee of Laurel Health System, and is a member and past chairman of Growth Resources of Wellsboro (GROW). He is also past chairman of the NRECA Engineering and Operations Committee.

A Potter County native, Eccher and his wife, Brenda, and their four children reside in Wellsboro.

A member-owned, non-profit utility, Tri-County has served the residents of north-central Pennsylvania since 1937. The cooperative provides electricity to more than 18,000 consumer-members over a 5,000-square-mile service territory covering parts of Tioga, Potter, Bradford, Lycoming, Clinton, Cameron and McKean counties.

C&T Enterprises, with headquarters in Wellsboro, provides management services to Tri-County and Claverack Rural Electric cooperatives, as well as its affiliated utilities, Wellsboro Electric Co., Citizens’ Electric Co. of Lewisburg, and Valley Energy of Sayre.

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