Former Democratic congressman leads association amid challenges in energy sector

Matheson

Jim Matheson should have been a lawyer, if his family history was any indication. His grandfather, father and older brother were all attorneys. And as a senior at Harvard, Matheson himself was planning to enter the profession until it came time to actually apply to law school.

"I sat down to write the essay, which was basically ‘Why do you want to go to law school?'" he told CEO Update. "I had nothing. I truly could not articulate why I wanted to go."

Law school wasn't in Matheson's future. He instead spent a short time after college as a lobbyist before moving to the business world. His career trajectory led him to Congress and eventually the corner office of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, one of the largest trade groups working inside the Beltway.

Matheson, 56, became NRECA's CEO in July. He had previously spent 14 years in the U.S. House of Representatives as Utah's sole Democratic congressman. By agreeing to take the top job at Arlington, Va.-based NRECA, the ex-politician joined a group led by an interim CEO for nearly a year after its previous leader—former Rep. Jo Ann Emerson (R-Mo.)—had a brain hemorrhage, eventually forcing her resignation.

So far Matheson hasn't done much to shake things up. Emerson's former congressional Chief of Staff Jeffrey Connor has stayed on as COO. (Connor led NRECA during Emerson's absence.) Other top staffers are still in place. Matheson said that as a congressman, he knew and respected his predecessor, and he was confident in the decisions she made while leading the group.

"It almost sounds cliché, but in the co-op community there is a culture that is very different," he said. "The culture here is we are part of something bigger than ourselves. We are part of a community and we are looking out for that community as a trade association."

A political calling

Matheson is a sixth-generation Utah native who was raised in Salt Lake City. While he did not follow other family members into law school, he did follow his father into politics. The CEO is the son of former Utah Gov. Scott Matheson, the last Democrat to hold the office.

The elder Matheson also was a "downwinder"—a term for those affected by nuclear weapons testing conducted by the U.S. government in the American Southwest during the middle of the 20th century. The former governor died at age 61 from a rare form of cancer the family believes was the result of radiation from nuclear tests. The circumstances of his death helped mold the political outlook of the younger Matheson, who would later use his position in Congress to advocate on behalf of other downwinders.

"It shaped my approach (to politics) primarily in that it is very important to hold the government accountable," Matheson said. "I'm proud of our constitutional system of government. I consider myself a very patriotic individual. But we all have an obligation to hold our government accountable and this is a situation where the government lied to people."

One of Matheson's first jobs after graduating college was as an environmental lobbyist in Washington, D.C., in the early 1980s. After about three years he was ready to move on, but didn't go straight into politics, instead choosing to enter the business world. He earned an MBA from the University of California, then went to work in the energy sector and eventually founded his own energy consulting firm. Matheson decided to run for Congress in 2000.

There was no "aha!" moment that pushed him to public office, he said. "Things just came together personally, professionally and politically."

Matheson would win election that year and six more times but he decided not to run again in 2014. He was a conservative Democrat, positioning himself to the right of many fellow party members on issues such as abortion and support for the Affordable Care Act, which he voted against.

His bucking of party stereotypes had helped him survive in a state that otherwise votes solidly Republican.

"What I learned is: Most matters you're dealing with are not two-dimensional—there's a yes or a no, or all Democrats think one way and Republicans think the other and that's the only way to look at an at an issue," Matheson said. "It would be great if life was that simple, but it's not. In fact, there are multiple ways to approach challenges and they are not all right and not all wrong."

Adapting to change

After stepping down from office, Matheson became a lobbyist at Squire Patton Boggs. In that role, an executive recruiter approached him about the top job at NRECA earlier this year. The $203-million revenue association was looking for a CEO and had a history of hiring former members of Congress for the post. Before Emerson, former Rep. Glenn English (D-Okla.) had led the group for nine years.

One attraction for Matheson was the chance to use his own experience working with electric co-ops in Utah while in Congress. Another was deploying other skills critical to running a trade group.

"It allowed me to keep a foot in the policy world but be involved in management, given my business background," he said. "It seemed like a great opportunity to apply my interests and my capabilities."

Matheson now represents an industry in transition, like much of the rest of the energy sector. Many co-ops rely on coal for the bulk of electrical power supplied to customers, and as a result NRECA has taken a hard line against Obama administration greenhouse gas regulations. Co-ops also face significant infrastructure issues and competition with investor-owned utilities.

"When you have been a relatively stable industry, and suddenly you are faced with significant change, that's quite the challenge," Matheson said. "Our job at NRECA is to make sure our members are best equipped to address that rapidly changing environment. We want to give them to the tools, the information and the capacity to serve their members."