Hylton, Mulligan elected to OPALCO board

Dave Hylton was reelected to the OPALCO board of directors May 17. George Mulligan was elected to the position vacated by Nourdine Jensen, who retired from the board.

May 26, 2008 4:07 pm
Retiring OPALCO board member Nourdine Jensen was honored for his nearly four decades of service. From left
Retiring OPALCO board member Nourdine Jensen was honored for his nearly four decades of service. From left

Directors oversee cooperative electrical utility serving more than 10,000 people on 20 islands

Dave Hylton was reelected to the OPALCO board of directors May 17. George Mulligan was elected to the position vacated by Nourdine Jensen, who retired from the board.

A record-breaking 435 people attended the 71st annual meeting of Orcas Power & Light Cooperative on the state ferry. Hylton and Mulligan were elected directors for District I (San Juan, Brown, Henry, Pearl and Spieden islands). Terms are for three years.

Hylton was first elected to the OPALCO board in 2005. He was raised on San Juan Island and graduated from Friday Harbor High School in 1957. After graduating from Washington State University with a degree in mechanical engineering in 1961, he began a 35-year career with Chevron Corporation where he managed operations, maintenance and construction of oil refineries and cross-country pipeline systems.

Hylton is now retired and lives at the north end of San Juan Island. In addition to serving as a director of OPALCO, he is a director of the San Juan Historical Society and is president of Limestone Point Water Company, Inc.

Mulligan has lived in Friday Harbor for the past 12 years with his wife, Pauline. He is a charter pilot for Island Air and flies with the San Juan Eagles, taking cancer patients for radiation therapy on the mainland.

A graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Business School, his first career was as founding partner and CEO of Mulligan Griffin & Assoc., a Washington, D.C.-based real estate development firm that specialized in the development, construction, ownership and leasing of specialized office, data and laboratory facilities for larger business and government organizations.

During the annual meeting, the board named its officers for the year. Chris Thomerson will serve as board president, Hylton will serve as vice president and Roger Crosby will serve another term as secretary-treasurer.

OPALCO is a member-owned cooperative electrical utility serving more than 10,000 islanders on 20 islands in San Juan County.

OPALCO provides electricity that is 97 percent greenhouse-gas free and is predominately generated by hydro-electric plants.

OPALCO was founded in 1937 to bring electricity to rural islanders.