Company Name: Hancock-Wood Electric Cooperative
Employee Name and Role: Curt Croy, Chief Operating Officer
How long have you worked here, what do you do, and what do you enjoy about working here?
Curt Croy, COO, Hancock-Wood Electric Co-op
Since 2021, Curt Croy has served as chief operating officer at Hancock-Wood Electric Cooperative. His work there began in 2018 as director of business development, drawing on experience from his previous role as director of economic development for Putnam County’s Community Improvement Corporation.
“I love our business model – it is very unique. It often takes years of being a member for people to understand the value of their co-op,” Croy said. “It’s a model of giving back to our members through scholarships, member events, supporting community causes…We do these things to show our gratitude intertwined with the co-op.”
Croy enjoys numerous aspects of his job but it’s co-op members that motivate his work each day. For example, in October, he tried his hand at Bingo calling when Hancock-Wood held a new member appreciation event. Members were treated to fun snacks, an afternoon of Bingo, and walked out full of smiles, many with prizes. (The author can attest!)
“That was so much fun,” he said, smiling. “One of my very favorite parts of the job is our members. We are always trying to give back because ultimately, they’re the reason we’re here. They’re number one – and for them, we keep the lights on at the best possible cost.”
About the Company – What is produced / created / services offered by the company?
Hancock-Wood Electric Cooperative is a non-profit, member-owned electric utility serving approximately 10,000 members spanning more than 1,800 miles of line throughout 10 Northwest Ohio counties.
In addition to providing safe, reliable electric service, Hancock-Wood provides member benefits including patronage capital, rebate programs for residential and commercial members, member-only appreciation events, scholarship and youth programs, Ohio Cooperative Living magazine, and more.
What makes you stand out?
There are no Hancock-Wood Electric Cooperative customers. Member-owners have an equal voice in the co-op’s direction and certain rights that are quite different from those who are customers of a for-profit utility, owned by shareholders, Croy said.
Members gain a share of co-op ownership as they use its services. The cooperative’s net margin after expenses and reserves does not belong to the utility; it belongs to members.
“The margins must be used either to improve and maintain operations or be distributed back to members,” Croy said. “This is a major, unique and beneficial aspect of a cooperative.”
Hancock-Wood is governed by a Board of Trustees, overseeing nine districts in portions of Allen, Erie, Hancock, Hardin, Henry, Putnam, Sandusky, Seneca, Wood, and Wyandot counties. The trustees are elected by the members in their districts, providing members with the opportunity to have a say in their electric provider.
Giving back to the community is important to Hancock-Wood and its members. Through the co-op’s Operation Round Up Program – a program where members can choose to round up their bill to the nearest dollar – members have given back more than $1 million to local not-for-profit organizations, schools and fire departments.
What is your founding story?
In the 1930s, electricity was common in U.S. cities, but not for those living in the country. Most residents of rural America were farmers who lived a labor-intensive life. Farmers produced light from coal or oil lamps and pumped water by hand. They used wood or coal to heat their homes, dish water and food.
Likely written in the late 1930s or early 1940s, Mrs. Olive Herman of McComb captured in poetry the joy and newness of electricity in her life. The poem is part of historical documentation gathered by Hancock-Wood to celebrate its 50th Anniversary in 1985.
Power companies were reluctant to install lines for rural areas, even when the government tried to lure them with low-interest financing through President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Rural Electrification Administration. So, farmers formed cooperatives to do it themselves.
In 1937, the founders of Hancock-Wood started a movement called “Get Lights!” to gain support for electricity, and the cooperative was founded April 20, 1938. The first lines were electrified in 1939. Over the decades, the Hancock-Wood co-op expanded because of demand into other Northwest Ohio counties to those it serves today.
What has been your involvement with the ED office? Do you have a favorite project or initiative you were a part of during your work with us?
Croy has served two terms on the Findlay Hancock County Economic Advisory Board, for a total of six years. As vice chairman of the board in 2024, Croy will transition into the role of chairman in 2025, for one extra year of service.
Like the co-op, Croy appreciates that as an organization, FHCED is community-minded and has the ability to positively impact the community.
“My favorite is when a local business or an established business expands and the effects trickle down throughout the whole community,” he said. “…when it involves local contractors, local construction companies, local financing, supplies, everything – and it affects Hancock County as a whole. I love seeing that, that’s truly economic development, when the whole community is behind the project from start to finish.”
As a member of the board, Croy enjoys taking part in the Findlay Formula™, FHCED’s method for attracting businesses where community stakeholders meet with a developer in person, putting any differences aside to work toward the common goal of economic vitality.
“If a company is considering coming to town, electricity is obviously important,” Croy said. “Many people don’t realize that economic development is a long, slow process. It’s a grind. You need to have a steady pulse on projects and have consistency in the office and on the board. It takes time, a lot of time, for the positive results to happen – but when they do, it’s very rewarding to see them through to the finish.”
If there were one take-away you would want people to have about your company, what would it be?
“Hancock-Wood Electric Cooperative provides safe and reliable electric service, and competitive rates to our members,” Croy said. “We continue to be a dedicated partner in our local communities. We sponsor local events, and through our Operation Round Up Program, our members have given more than $1 million to local causes.
“And of course, I can’t say it enough – our members come first. That’s the only reason we’re here. If we don’t have our members, we don’t exist as a cooperative.”
