A total of 622 members attended Tuesday’s annual meeting of Pioneer Telephone Cooperative, the last under the leadership of General Manager Richard Ruhl.

After 46 years with the cooperative and 27 years in the top position, Ruhl is retiring in September.

Blake Callaham, a 23-year Pioneer employee and current division manager of marketing, sales and service, will succeed Ruhl as general manager, effective Sept. 1.

In his annual report to the members, Ruhl said “Pioneer Telephone and its subsidiary companies have had a financially sound and successful year in 2021.”

The cooperative’s consolidated income statements showed total revenue for 2021 of $164.9 million and net margins (revenue over expenses) of $14.7 million.

During Tuesday’s meeting, members approved bylaws changes broadening the board’s authority to cancel or reschedule membership meetings, reset filing periods for board offices, setting polling periods for trustee elections and increase opportunities for members to participate in meetings and elections.

Pioneer Board President Gail Parker, Dist. 4, called the meeting to order. The invocation was led by Rev. Jeremy Parker, a Pioneer employee. Board Vice President Jack H. Choate III, Dist.7, led the flag salute and Pioneer retiree Bill Loyall sang the National Anthem.

Musical entertainment was provided by the Bonham Brothers, a bluegrass band which includes Pioneer employee Shilah Jerkins and her father Virgil Bonham, both of Kingfisher.

Other Pioneer board members include Trevor Wilczek, Dave Shepard, Loyd Benson, Joe Kegin, Mary Petty, LeRoy Lage, Mark Fuqua, Dave Krittenbrink, Mike Dobrinski, Gabe Green and Linda Dich Randall, secrietary.

Other members of the cooperative’s management team include Brenda Walta, chief financial officer and vice president of finance; David Post, vice president of human resources and legal; Kim Grellner, vice president of marketing, sales and service, and Jerry Kadavy, vice president of network operations.

In his letter to the membership, Ruhl reported that the cooperative had made “significant strides” in its fiber-to-the-home build-out.

“Pioneer currently has approximately $143,148,084 in total costs of engineering and construction underway, with approximately $120,571,584 in work orders completed. “This represents 4,981

“This represents 4,981 miles of new fiber cable deployed, for a total of 7,840 miles of fiber optic cable currently in the Pioneer network.

“This historical fiber-to-the-home build-out program has created broadband access for thousands of Pioneer members.”

Ruhl said the cooperative is also working to resolve issues with customer communications.

“Pioneer is currently in the process of launching a new communications contact center,” he said. “This new system will enable many new and significant enhancements over our legacy system.

“In addition to standard voice call capabilities, new enhancements such as webchat capabilities, improved email responses, customer text messaging and real-time video capability will be available to assist, observe and resolve customer equipment challenges.”

Ruhl also expressed gratitude to Pioneer members, the board of trustees, his executive management team and Pioneer employees “for the overwhelming support and dedication to this great cooperative” over his 27-year tenure as general manager.