Maude Grantham-Richards, outgoing chair of the APPA Board of Directors and electric utility director of Farmington, N.M., Electric Utility System, presents the APPA Alan H. Richardson Statesmanship Award to Thilly.

Roy Thilly receives national APPA award

This summer, Roy Thilly, president and CEO of WPPI Energy, was honored with the American Public Power Association's (APPA) prestigious Alan H. Richardson Statesmanship Award. This award recognizes public power leaders who work successfully and tirelessly on APPA's behalf, forging consensus on national issues to achieve public power's goals.

Thilly has headed up WPPI Energy since 1992. For many years, he has been active on national and state electric issues, including reliability, transmission access and climate change. Thilly is a member of the Executive Committee of the Customers First! Coalition (CFC), a consumer coalition involved in state electric policy matters. He is also a past chair of the APPA Board of Directors.

In 2004, Thilly served on the Wisconsin Governor's Task Force on Energy Efficiency and Renewables, and in 2008, he co-chaired the Governor's Task Force on Global Warming. Throughout his career, Thilly has brokered consensus on a host of major public power issues and played a key role in advancing APPA's agenda.

APPA is the service organization for the nation's more than 2,000 community-owned electric utilities that serve more than 45 million Americans. For more information about APPA, visit www.appanet.org.