Montgomery named CEO of Black River Electric Cooperative 

Paul Montgomery, Vice President of Engineering and Operations has accepted the position of Chief Executive Officer at Black River Electric Cooperative in Fredericktown, Missouri. Montgomery has over 26 years of experience at BREC.

Montgomery grew up on a cattle farm in southern Washington county and learned at an early age what hard work was. After graduating high school, Paul attended Mineral Area College and excelled in their pre-engineering program. He then attended the University of Missouri-Rolla, now Missouri University of Science and Technology. While in college, he started working at BREC as a student dispatcher and was able to work on the cooperative’s engineering model while completing his undergraduate and graduate degrees in 1998. After graduation an opportunity was available at the cooperative, and he’s been there ever since.

Montgomery was hired as Planning Engineer in 1998 and worked his way up to Manager of Maintenance in 2001. Later that year, he was promoted to Manager of Engineering and received his professional engineering license for the State of Missouri in 2002. In 2023 Montgomery was promoted to Vice President of Engineering and Operations.

John Singleton, former BREC CEO prepares to pass the torch, “It has been my pleasure to work with Paul throughout his career.  He brings a unique engineering and operational perspective to the position and on top of that, he is dedicated to the co-op business model. He is committed to serving BREC’s members-owners and I believe the Board of Directors made an excellent choice.”  In November, Singleton was named CEO of M&A Electric Power Cooperative in Poplar Bluff and will still be serving co-op members at BREC’s power wholesaler.

Montgomery is excited to lead the cooperative into the future and ready to serve BREC members in this new capacity. Paul and his family live on a farm just a few miles from BREC headquarters in Fredericktown.