After 35 years of service at Tipmont maintaining electrical lines and substations, Jeff Wilcox has returned to the cooperative in a new role — Tipmont board member.
At September’s 2025 Annual Meeting, Wilcox was elected to Tipmont’s board of directors as a representative for District 1 of our cooperative’s service territory. Wilcox lives in West Lafayette with his wife, Deb, and they have five children and 12 grandchildren.
“We have a terrific board of directors, and I bring a different perspective to that group,” Wilcox says. “My experience in the field, and decisions that are advised from an operational aspect, will be a strong asset to choices our board makes moving forward. But I’m also eager to learn from them as we make decisions to keep Tipmont headed in a strong direction.”
A lifelong Lafayette-area native, Wilcox graduated from Harrison High School and began his career at Public Service Indiana, now Duke Energy, where he earned his Journeyman Lineman certification. After eight years there, Wilcox made the move to Tipmont — where he served in a variety of capacities, including lineman, foreman, serviceman and substation technician. Wilcox retired from Tipmont in 2020.
“I’d heard so many great things about Tipmont’s family-oriented approach, and I was looking for a fresh start,” Wilcox says. “I couldn’t have been happier to make the move, and it was the best move I ever made in my life.”
Among Wilcox’s many projects as a member of Tipmont’s team, he oversaw construction of Tipmont’s Battle Ground office and helped plan, design and oversee builds and upgrades for many Tipmont substations, including fiber implementation and smart-grid automation.
“You’re working for, and serving, the members who own the company, and I enjoyed so many opportunities to achieve that,” Wilcox says of his three-plus decades at Tipmont.
As he jumps into his new role on Tipmont’s board of directors, Wilcox says it’s also been a pleasure to reconnect with old friends.
“It’s been wonderful to see the familiar faces and revisit the friendships I’d created while I was there, as well as to see some of the new guys on the line crew coming up,” Wilcox says. “Some of them had just been hired when I retired, and I couldn’t be prouder of them when I see how much they’ve advanced and grown.”
