Pahrump-based Valley Electric names Angela Evans as new CEO

Valley Electric Association’s board of directors has named Angela Evans as CEO of the cooperative. Evans has been interim CEO since May.

Ken Derschan, president of Valley Electric’s board of directors, announced Evans’ new role on Friday.

“We are confident in Angela’s leadership and vision to serve the best interests of Valley’s members, employees and communities served,” Derschan said in a news release from Valley. “We are impressed with her commitment to community, sustainability and the future of our cooperative.”

In the release, Derschan was paraphrased on his quotes about Evans stating she “exemplifies the combination of business acumen, strategic leadership and integrity that the board demands, while also showing genuine compassion and interest for her employees, members and the community.”

“The cooperative has a cohesive executive team that we are confident can lead VEA into the future,” he said.

Evans, who has worked at the executive level at utilities for over 18 years in New Mexico, Texas, California and Nevada, joined the cooperative in February 2017 as executive vice president of operations. She was later named chief operating office of the co-op and then interim CEO in May 2018 when former CEO Thomas Husted announced his retirement.

“I am honored and humbled in being named CEO of Valley Electric Association,” Evans said. “I thank our board of directors for their support and confidence in me. I take great pride in the work that we do and in serving our members and communities.”

She is a native of Santa Fe, New Mexico and has held several roles in the utility industry over the years.

\Evans was the manager of the distribution services and maintenance operations for the Imperial Irrigation District in Indio, California from 2011 to 2016.

From 2000 to 2010, Evans served in various roles in New Mexico and Texas. The new CEO worked as the director of utility operations for PNM, New Mexico’s largest utility provider, during that period, along with holding several management roles at Texas-New Mexico Power Co. in Texas.

Evans earned her bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of New Mexico.

Evans had been vying to stay in her role as CEO, she stated in past interviews with a reporter from the Pahrump Valley Times.

The announcement comes just after the announcement that the CEO position had been offered to Byron C. Nolde, who currently holds the CEO title at Oconto Electric Cooperative in Wisconsin.

Just days after the announcement that Nolde would take over as CEO on November 5, Valley announced he was not planning to take the position.

Nolde said he had received a counteroffer from his current board and was staying in Wisconsin.

The board had been on a nationwide search to find a new CEO that began after Husted’s departure prior to naming Evans.

Valley was assisted in its search efforts by Ken Holmes, director of executive search for the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association.

Contact reporter Jeffrey Meehan at jmeehan@pvtimes.com