Employees Complete Leadership and Development Class

By Brianna Wall

Ten OEC employees recently completed the Employee Development and Leadership Program (EDLP) — the third class of employees to do so.

EDLP — championed by OEC's board of trustees since its creation in 2014 — is intended to expand employees' working knowledge of all facets of the co-op, not just the areas in which they work on a daily basis, all in an effort to better serve our members.

Spanning two years, the program consisted of classroom courses, the reading of leadership and development books, job shadowing, volunteer work, touring other cooperatives, giving a presentation and more.

"I'm proud to see another dedicated group of employees not only finish this program, but help shape what it has become," said CEO Patrick Grace, whose vision for the cooperative led to the program's creation.

Eighty-two of OEC's 153 employees have either completed the program or are in the process of completing it.

2018 Employee Development & Leadership Program graduates, left to right, Buddy Byrd, Shawn McElhiney, Kenny Bruehl, Kolton Howry, Candace Schmidlkofer, Keela Clark, Chelle Danner, Daniel Lofland, Erin McKnight and Weston Powell (not pictured).