Neil Adams

Associated Electric Cooperative - Inducted in 2008

Neil Adams was hired in 1962 to build a new "super G&T" that would be responsible for wholesale power supply for Missouri's existing generation and transmission cooperatives. The concept of how a super G & T would look and operate was still in its infancy when Neil was hired. Neil is credited for helping build Associated Electric Cooperative from the ground up during a time when Missouri's rural electric cooperatives were struggling to obtain adequate power supply. 

Neil initially worked without staff from a downtown Springfield hotel room. At the time Associated was formed Missouri's six existing G&T's were looking for a better way to provide power to cooperative members. Joining together to form Associated established a collective strength that continues to benefit Missouri's electric cooperative members by providing the most reliable and lowest cost power supply in the country. But it also demanded each G&T manager to sacrifice some autonomy, which at times was difficult, but necessary.

Neil Adams was highly regarded as an experienced, dynamic individual who was a negotiator without parallel. He could make a deal with something in it for everybody. Neil had a vision for what Associated is today... he could see what the existing G & T's could accomplish if they successfully joined their efforts to acquire power supply for the cooperatives they served. Neil also had the leadership qualities to help the G& T's unite and ultimately build one of the strongest rural electric cooperative systems in the nation. 

visionary leadership, unparalleled negotiation skills, a talent for crafting win-win achievements, and founding father of the nation's premiere G & T cooperative