North Carolina's Electric Cooperatives
Ken Melcher has a diverse work experience spanning over several decades. Ken currently holds the position of VP - IT Operations at North Carolina's Electric Cooperatives since December 2022. Prior to that, they worked at Fidelity Investments for a significant portion of their career, holding various senior roles such as SVP - Mainframe Operations & Data Center Services, SVP - Production Operations, VP - Production Operations, VP - Unix Technical Services, and Director - Database & Middleware Support. During their time at Fidelity Investments, they led global technical operations teams, overseeing critical business applications and web properties. Before joining Fidelity Investments, they worked as a Database Administrator at bp and as a Mechanical Engineer/Systems Analyst at Stone & Webster.
Ken Melcher earned their Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Penn State University, where they attended from 1982 to 1986. Ken then pursued further education at The University of Dallas, where they obtained their Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree in Information Technology Management from 1992 to 1996.
North Carolina's Electric Cooperatives
North Carolina’s electric cooperatives are a network of not-for-profit electric utility organizations powering the days and empowering the lives of 2.5 million North Carolinians from the mountains to the coast. There are 26 electric distribution cooperatives rooted in communities across the state, each committed to delivering homes, farms and businesses with safe, reliable, affordable and environmentally responsible electricity. There is a group of cooperative organizations in Raleigh that works for the 26 distribution cooperatives. This group includes: North Carolina Electric Membership Corporation, the power supplier to the co-ops; North Carolina Association of Electric Cooperatives, the trade association providing services to them; and Tarheel Electric Membership Association, the organization that supplies the cooperatives with the materials necessary to maintain their modern, sophisticated systems. Each cooperative is independent and owned by the people, called members, to whom it provides service. Those members elect the cooperative’s board of directors, which is responsible for establishing the cooperative’s policies, goals and strategies. The cooperative difference lies in our history and structure as not-for-profit utility providers that put people first. This difference positions us perfectly to operate daily with a unique purpose: to improve the quality of life in the communities we serve and empower our members to take control of their energy use. Learn more: www.ncelectriccooperatives.com