Cimarron Electric Cooperative CEO Mark Snowden announced last week he is leaving that position effective May 31 to serve as senior vice president of the National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corporation (CFC) in Dulles, Va.

After earning a bachelor’s degree in finance from Southwestern Oklahoma State University, Snowden, 46, has been employed at Cimarron since 1998, first working in geothermal installations and helping with the newsletter and subsidiary accounting.

In 2007, he was moved into the finance department and promoted to chief financial officer. Two years later at age 32, the board named him to succeed Tom Garrett in the top position of the nine-county rural electric cooperative.

Cimarron and CFC

CFC is a private, nonprofit cooperative lender with $30 billion in assets, created and owned by the nation’s electric cooperatives.

Over the past 13 years, Cimarron Electric has become a successful case study in how CFC financing can be utilized to expand infrastructure and enhance reliability without increasing costs to members.

From 2009 to 2016, Cimarron has shifted its debt from government loans to CFC financing, saving $1 million in interest in the process, Snowden said.

“By doing that, all the decisions as to how we build lines and how we run the co-op are in the hands of our nine board members,” he said.

“We also got rid of all the red tape that comes with anything you do with the government and we got to use the CFC financial budgeting, forecasting and equity management models.

“Before we knew it, all our expenses started falling off and margins started going up and we got to retire all our capital credits from 1985.

That really put Cimarron on a national stage as to how we did that.”

The cooperative’s success in obtaining a $55 million grant to harden its distribution system – utilizing ductile iron poles among other upgrades – and getting ahead of the oil boom in the STACK play to efficiently build out hundreds of miles of new lines – brought more attention to Cimarron during Snowden’s tenure.

“Our growth went through the roof during that time and so did our margins,” he said. “We were able to upgrade our facilities and bring in new technology to maintain our services and reduce outages.”

Improvements in infrastructure also have reduced line loss – the amount of electricity that is lost in the distribution system before it reaches homes and businesses.

“Our line loss was as high as 10% but over 10 years we’ve reduced it to 3.7%, saving this company almost $1.5 million per year,” he said. “We’ve put every dollar saved into tree clearing each year, which keeps our rates down and ends the problem of blinking lines whenever the wind blows.

“None of this could happen without a board of directors who sees technology as an investment where so many rural co-ops look at it as a luxury,” he said. “It’s been an investment that’s paid us back every year and it all starts with the board.”

More Than a Job

His attachment to the community also is more than just job-deep. Snowden credits the support of his coworkers and the community at large with helping his family through difficult life events.

Snowden’s father – the best man at his wedding as well as his best friend – died of a heart attack in the wheatfield when Snowden was just 26.

Five years later, his daughter Morgan was diagnosed with leukemia.

“I was taking on a new role here as CFO when Morgan was diagnosed, then her last year of treatment was the first year I served as CEO,” he said. “You get through those things because of your community and friends at work.

“You see the relationships that are built and how God uses that and the love that everyone pours on your family.”

Those connections made it easy to resist other job offers that started coming in as Cimarron gained more attention on the national stage, he said.

“I’ve gotten other job opportunities since Cimarron really started getting on the national radar, but we didn’t want our kids to grow up anywhere but here.”

Right Offer, Right Time

With youngest son Blake now a high school senior and an empty nest looming, CFC’s offer over Christmas break to join its senior leadership team looked more attractive.

The lending institution’s new CEO was interested in Snowden’s expertise in rural electric distribution to complement his own experience in financial marketing.

“We are thrilled to have Mark join the CFC team,” CEO J. Andrew Don said. “He brings extensive electric cooperative leadership and energy industry experience, and a strong vision for the future.”

Snowden will lead a team of 20 financial analysts that will work with the 900 rural electric cooperatives across the country that are served by CFC.

“I’ll be traveling to cooperatives across the country to help with their financial models and help their boards with strategic plans to upgrade lines without increasing rates,” he said. “That’s where I feel my talents lie, so this is a dream job for me and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

Even so, the nearly lifelong Omega resident told the Times & Free Press he and his wife Karen will not be totally abandoning their county roots to accept the national position.

“I’ve been at Omega since I was a week old. This is home and it still will be,” he said. “I was born in Yukon, but my family moved here shortly after that when my dad made the decision to come back with his dad and brothers and start Snowden Farms.”

As a condition of his employment, he delayed his start date until June 1 so he won’t miss a moment of Blake’s senior year. And he’s been given the flexibility to maintain local ties.

The Snowdens are renting a condo in Ashburn, Va., about five minutes from CFC headquarters and two and a half miles from Dulles International Airport.

“We’re keeping our house here on the farm and Karen will be able to fly back when she needs to for our kids or to help her parents,” he said. “Also, I’ll be traveling through Oklahoma on my way to other cooperatives, so I’ll still be here a lot too.”

“Being able to split our time between both locations is a tremendous blessing and the encouragement we needed to step out in faith,” Karen said. “It was an ex tremely difficult decision because we love Cimarron and the wonderful employees who serve the members each day.”

Son Blake will spend the summer with them in Virginia before starting his freshman year at the Spears School of Business at Oklahoma State University.

Morgan, now 10 years cancer-free, will graduate in December from SWOSU with a degree in accounting and will be in Utah this summer for an internship in the church missionary field.

Oldest son Austin works in quality control for Viacore in Kingfisher.

“All our kids are excited about and accepting of our decision, which made it easier for us,” Snowden said.

Successor Search Starts

Jared Harrison, attorney for Cimarron’s board of directors, said Snowden’s new position reflects positively on the entire cooperative.

“We’re definitely sad to see someone like Mark go, but I’m confident the board is also very proud to have part of the Cimarron Electric family be so highly thought of to have an opportunity like Mark now has.”

The board is focusing its search for a replacement internally to maintain the cooperative’s positive direction and current culture, Harrison said.

“While we would like to make a decision sooner rather than later so the new CEO will have as much time as possible to spend with Mark and learn from him, they also understand that making the right decision is most important,” he said.

“Depending exactly how things go, I think there is a high likelihood that interviews will start as soon as the end of the month, but I’d hate to even speculate on when a hire might be made and announced.”