John Vansant,
Director of Corporate Services and Chief Financial Officer
Oklahoma Municipal Power Authority (OMPA) General Manager David W. Osburn began his term as Chairman of the Board of Directors for the American Public Power Association (APPA) at the association’s national conference in Seattle on June 21.
The Chairman term will last for one year.
The APPA is the national advocacy and advisory group for the nation’s 2,000-plus Public Power utilities. Association board members are chosen to represent 10 regions across the country. Osburn was elected to its Board in 2020. He also previously served on the APPA Board of Directors from 2004-2007.
In a release announcing Osburn’s appointment, the APPA noted his speech to the national conference attendees:
“Osburn spoke of his relationship with public power, referencing his first position in Crawfordsville, Indiana, as the place where he fell in love with public power. Speaking about his time there, Osburn said, ‘I learned what it’s like to be part of a community.’
Describing his vision for the coming year as chair, Osburn emphasized the need for public power to ‘celebrate the past but focus on the future.’ He cited examples of service through innovation at the City of Comanche (900 meters), which installed a DC fast EV charger to demonstrate its commitment to innovation, and Ponca City (16,000 meters), which introduced free citywide WiFi, as well as the Northern California Power Agency, a joint action agency with 14 members, which leveraged an APPA Demonstration of Energy Efficiency and Developments program grant to research green hydrogen production, generation, and storage.”
Osburn came to OMPA in 2007, after serving as General Manager of Richmond Power & Light in Indiana. He first was Director of Operations at OMPA, before becoming Assistant General Manager in 2009 and then took over as General Manager in August of 2013.
Osburn has also served on APPA’s Executive Committee, Awards Committee, Business Planning Committee, Strategic Planning Committee, CEO Climate Change and Generation Policy Committee. He also serves on the Southwest Power Pool’s (SPP) Board of Directors/Members Committee.
