Mr. Bill Gipson, president and chief executive officer of The Empire
District Electric Company, today announced that Mrs. Mary McCleary
Posner and Mr. Myron W. McKinney will retire from the board of directors
on April 23, 2009. Mrs. Bonnie C. Lind and Dr. Paul R. Portney have been
nominated to fill the board vacancies and will stand for election at the
Company's annual meeting of shareholders on April 23, 2009.
Mrs. Posner and Mr. McKinney were elected to the board in 1991. During
their years of service on the Empire board, the Company grew from
119,875 to 168,280 electric customers, added a natural gas subsidiary,
saw the electric peak demand increase from 678 megawatts to 1,173
megawatts, and witnessed the gross utility plant of $515,119,000
increase to $1,581,950,000.
Mrs. Posner is the president and a principal of Posner McCleary Inc., an
international management consulting, marketing, advertising, and
financial relations firm which specializes in serving corporations, law
firms, and colleges and universities.
She is the founder and chairman of The Memorial Day Weekend Salute to
Veterans Corporation, a private, not-for-profit, 501(c)3, educational
company that for the past 20 years has created an annual six-day
Celebration in Missouri to honor and remember those who served, those
currently serving in our Armed Forces, Guard, Reserves, and our Allies.
In 2008 they observed the 20th Annual Celebration.
Mrs. Posner attended Ohio Wesleyan University for two years and was the
fourth generation of her family to do so. She received her AB degree
from the University of Missouri and an MA degree from Indiana
University. She has done post-graduate MBA work in marketing and
international management at New York University Graduate Business School.
Myron McKinney retired from The Empire District Electric Company in
April 2002 as president and chief executive officer. He continued as
chairman of the board of directors at Empire. Mr. McKinney joined the
Company in June 1967 and held various positions in the Company's
Customer Service Department prior to being elected to the position of
vice president - Customer Service in 1982. He was elected to the board
of directors in October 1991 and to the position of executive vice
president in October 1994. In 1997 he was elected president and chief
executive officer.
During his career at Empire, McKinney served on the board of directors
of the Missouri Chamber of Commerce, as president of the Joplin Area
Chamber of Commerce and United Way of Joplin and as chairman of the
board of Ozarks Public Telecommunications.
