La Plata Electric Association came looking for Jessica Matlock, and the new CEO of the cooperative that provides electricity for a good chunk of Southwest Colorado, found the job not only appealing professionally but personally as well.
When she assumed the CEO position of the electric cooperative in July 2019, it was a kind of homecoming for the Coast Guard Academy graduate who had spent most of her career working in the electric power industry on the West Coast and in Washington, D.C.
For the extended Matlock family, Colorado and the Western Slope are home. She was born in Morrison, near Red Rocks Park and Amphitheater, and grew up on her family’s horse ranch.
“I have family both in Grand Junction and Fruita and then some on the Front Range. So, they span the Rockies. When this job came to my attention – I was actually recruited for the job so when the recruiter called me – it was really a dream come true to come back home to Colorado,” Matlock said.
She saw the opportunity to lead LPEA as a gateway to combine her professional career with her personal life and move closer to her family.
Matlock’s family opened the first creamery in Denver, called Purity Creamery.
“It provided a ton of jobs during the Depression,” she said.
Matlock is a fourth-generation Coloradan who grew up a 4-H kid. Her animal of choice was the turkey. She grew up riding horses and raising turkeys for 4-H shows and sales.
Revenue from her turkeys, cleaning out horse stalls at 4 a.m., along with paychecks from her first job outside the ranch helped buy her first car, a Volkswagen Scirocco. She found it in a repo sale with her father’s help.
Growing up on a horse ranch fuels one major goal of hers that remains unfulfilled in Durango: “It would be great to get horses. I’d love to get horses again. I have such great memories from the ranch.”
Matlock’s interest in becoming a pilot led her to the Coast Guard Academy, where in the 1990s, women could fly any mission.
But what really attracted her interests at the Coast Guard Academy was sharpshooting. She had experience shooting on the ranch and she proved a natural. She became a sharpshooter for the Coast Guard.
Matlock said the skills to be a good shooter are transferable to all aspects of life.
“When you aim at a target you calm your breathing and heart rate to improve focus and accuracy. It’s the same in business and strategy: By staying calm, and remaining focused and persistent, you can achieve success,” she said.
Before coming to LPEA, Matlock worked overseeing customer services, government relations and developing solar energy and energy efficiency projects for Snohomish County Public Utility District in Washington state.
Now, leading LPEA, Matlock said work is focused on meeting a strategic goal set by the board of directors: reducing the carbon footprint of the cooperative by 50% by 2030 while keeping members’ costs for electricity lower than 70% of its Colorado cooperative peers.
LPEA has 34,200 members with more than 46,450 meters. Of those members, about 1,200 are net-metered, which means they generate some or all of their power, and 99% of them do it through solar power.
Matlock says the cost of renewable energy continues to decline as technology is refined and more people use renewables.
But she cautions every decision about a power source comes with trade-offs, including renewables.
“I think it’s important to put things in perspective. Every energy source has its impact, and you can’t ignore that. You have to be cognizant of it,” she said.
When looking at decisions that affect rates, reduce carbon and create long-term business commitments, Matlock said it’s more important to be right than to act too quickly.
“It’s a balancing act. We want to reduce carbon, as our board has directed, but they want to make sure that we’re keeping our rates affordable at the same time, and of course, we have to have reliability. So all three of those things are definitely a focus and a priority.” She added, “It’s important not to do things quickly. It’s important to do them smartly.”
parmijo@durangoherald.com
