Bartlett, Walker Join TEC Board
September 18, 2026
The 49 voting delegates in attendance at Texas Electric Cooperatives’ 86th Annual Meeting in August elected Ryan Bartlett, president and CEO of Taylor Electric Cooperative, representing Group 4, and Robert Walker, CEO of Upshur Rural Electric Cooperative, Group 1, to three-year terms on the statewide association’s board of directors.
The new board confirmed Cameron Smallwood, CEO and general manager of United Cooperative Services, as its new chair. He replaces Bryan Wood, general manager of Deep East Texas Electric Cooperative, whose term ended at the meeting. Walker was chosen as an officer by his fellow board members.
2026–27 TEC Board of Directors
Chair: Cameron Smallwood, United Cooperative Services, Group 3
Vice chair: Jim Coleman, Jackson Electric Cooperative, Group 7
Secretary-treasurer: Robert Walker, Upshur Rural Electric Cooperative, Group 1
Ryan Bartlett, Taylor Electric Cooperative, Group 4
Matt Bentke, Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative, Group 6
Kerry Kelton, MidSouth Electric Cooperative, Group 2
Zac Perkins, Tri-County Electric Cooperative (Oklahoma), Group 5
In his report to the membership, Wood, the outgoing chair, thanked his fellow general managers in Group 1; fellow board members; Mike Williams, TEC president and CEO, and the association’s staff; the board and staff at Deep East Texas EC; and his wife, Rhonda.
Wood, who started his career not working at a cooperative but a corporation, said he finally understood the difference one day not too many years ago, when Jerry Bose, former general manager at Trinity Valley EC, called Wood into his office.
“My first job at Trinity Valley was billing and collections, and Jerry started off telling me how proud of me he was,” Wood said. But “he told me that when I was disconnecting someone for tampering that I needed to remember that these folks were paying my salary. I only existed because they existed.
“Just like that, it hit me. That’s why the cooperative model is different. It was never about accounting or finances. It was a model for how we treat people.”
That’s worth fighting for.
“Taking cover is not how we want to face the challenge ahead of us,” Wood said. “Let’s stand shoulder to shoulder, allow TEC to sweep the minefields for us and march ahead, determined to protect the cooperative model.”