By Staff Report
Danny Exum of Chipley has announced his candidacy for election to the West Florida Electric Cooperative (WFEC) Board of Trustees for District 6.
“As your WFEC Board Member, I will apply my years of cooperative management experience to provide reliable and economical power for your home and business. Thank you for your vote and support,” said Exum.
Exum and his wife, Gail, have been proud members of West Florida Electric Cooperative for twenty-four years. Exum holds both a Master of Business Administration and a Bachelor of Science degree from Troy University.
He retired as Chief Information Officer of Wiregrass Electric Cooperative, concluding more than 32 years of executive leadership. During his career, Exum worked extensively with electric cooperatives across the country, collaborating with peers to identify best practices for operating member-owned utilities. His expertise led to appointments on advisory boards for two of the electric utility industry’s largest vendors, where he led teams that designed an outdoor lighting control system and contributed to the development of systems supporting fair electrical rates for prepaid members. He was frequently consulted by these and other vendors for his knowledge of emerging technologies.
As Chief Information Officer, Exum was regularly invited to speak at both state and national levels as a subject matter expert on management, emerging technologies, and risk management. While at Wiregrass Electric Cooperative, he demonstrated a strong commitment to community service by donating computers to the Holmes County School System after a cyberattack destroyed existing equipment. Following Hurricane Michael, Exum provided—at no cost to West Florida Electric Cooperative—critical equipment and services to restore the cooperative’s network, outage management, and dispatch systems. He brings extensive experience in rate analysis, fair cost allocation, and a deep working knowledge of the cooperative business model, values, principles, and systems.
Since retiring, Exum has continued serving his community through his work with the Tri-County Airport Authority, where he serves on the Finance Committee and acts as Grant Coordinator. As the airport liaison, he attends Holmes, Jackson, and Washington County Commissioners’ meetings. He also led a collaborative effort bringing together county commissioners, chambers of commerce, tourist development councils, and economic development partners for an airport-based economic development meeting—now held annually.
Exum is a current member of both the Washington County Chamber of Commerce, where he serves on the Board, and the Holmes County Chamber of Commerce. He has also served twice as a guest lecturer at Chipola College, speaking on cybersecurity, incident response, and risk management.
Earlier in his career, Exum served as a noncommissioned officer in the U.S. Army, assigned to the Training and Doctrine Command. He received a Certificate of Appreciation from the Fort Rucker Army Aviation Board for his work with combat aircraft and air defense. This experience led to his being invited by the Georgia Institute of Technology to deliver a classified lecture on air defense, which ultimately resulted in a job offer from Georgia Tech.
When not volunteering in the communities he loves, Exum enjoys woodworking, creating projects that he donates as fundraisers or door prizes for Washington and Holmes County Chamber of Commerce events.
AMBER PATINO