Knebel appointed to Bradford National Bank Board of Directors

Bradford National Bank senior vice president Rich Knebel has been appointed to the Bradford National Bank Board of Directors.

“Rich will be a welcome addition to our Board. His knowledge of the banking industry and its myriad of regulations will an asset to our bank, customers, and our entire market area,” said Frank Joy, board chairman in making the announcement.

Knebel joined the bank in 2007, working at the bank’s Highland facility assisting customers with commercial, agricultural and consumer lending. In 2015, Knebel was elevated to senior vice president, overseeing the entire lending department in Greenville, Highland and Marine.

“I’m excited about my expanded role at the bank and look forward to serving on the board as we work to continuously improve and grow our banking operations to better serve our customers and communities,” Knebel said.

Knebel has more than 30 years of banking experience and is a 1987 graduate of the ABA National Graduate Trust School, and Received his MBA degree from SIU Edwardsville in 1993. Additionally, he graduated from the ABA Stonier Graduate School of Banking in 1995 and received his Certified Financial Planner designation in 2006.

Knebel is very active in civic affairs in the area and is a member of the Highland Rotary Club.

Founded in 1867, Bradford National Bank is the 10th oldest bank in Illinois and is celebrating its 150 anniversary this year.

Clinton County Electric helping with repairs in Georgia following Hurricane Irma

In advance of Hurricane Irma, the Georgia Electric Membership Cooperative reached out to the Association of Illinois Electric Cooperatives (AIEC) for storm recovery help. The AIEC activated its Emergency Work Plan and dispatched 123 linemen from 21 rural electric cooperatives from across the state to help restore electricity in Georgia and North Carolina. The hurricane produced tropical-force winds, torrential downpours and extensive damage to Georgia’s electric infrastructure.

Approximately 5,000 cooperative workers from 25 states converged in the hurricane’s impact zone to assist in restoration efforts. Peak outage estimates indicate there were more than 760,000 co-op outages in Florida, 535,00 in Georgia and 100,000 in South Carolina.

Before the hurricane made landfall, journeyman linemen Craig Benhoff and Jason Deering from Clinton County Electric Cooperative were sent to Satilla EMC in Alma, Ga. They will stay to help restore power to all of those members. Most recent numbers indicate co-ops in Georgia, with help from outside crews, have been able to restore power to 230,000 meters.

Despite this incredible progress, large outages continue. As is often the case during restorations of this scale, the last several thousand meters are the most difficult to restore. The co-ops deal first with rebuilding their main supply lines, to restore power to the most members as quickly as possible, and then work on the single-phase lines. The linemen are working an average of 17 hours a day, under difficult circumstances, to rebuild the system.

“The Georgia cooperatives are overwhelmed with gratitude by the response of the Illinois cooperatives, and that from across the nation,” said Jim Miles, AIEC manager of safety and loss control and coordinator of the Illinois emergency work plan. “Work, such as this, exhibits the cooperative principle of cooperation among cooperatives. We know that if we ever need it, the Georgia cooperatives will be happy to reciprocate.”

This story was originally published September 20, 2017 at 10:17 AM with the headline "Knebel appointed to Bradford National Bank Board of Directors."