[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 2]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 2998-2999]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



              HONORING MICHAEL KELLY OF FAIRBANKS, ALASKA

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. DON YOUNG

                               of alaska

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, March 20, 2000

  Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to Mr. Mike 
Kelly on the eve of his retirement from Golden Valley Electric 
Association in Alaska.
  Michael P. Kelly has worked for 33 years; 17 of them were as Chief 
Executive Officer and President of the Golden Valley Electric 
Association. He is a leader within Alaska's utility industry. 
Throughout his thirty-three years he has grown Interior Alaska's lone 
electric co-op into a multi-million dollar enterprise which provides 
electrical service to an estimated 80,000 people. In fact, during his 
leadership GVEA has not raised its rates during the last 18 years.
  Mike has dedicated his career at GVEA to fighting for projects and 
progress that have benefited consumers in both Alaska's Railbelt and in 
Alaska's remote regions. He led GVEA's purchase of the Fairbanks 
Municipal Utilities (electric) System, and has been the facilitator in 
the construction of the Northern Intertie Project has serve in numerous 
leadership positions within the industry and in the community of 
Fairbanks, Alaska.
  Not only has Mike been a industry leader but more importantly he has 
been a community leader within Fairbanks as well as a civic leader 
within the Great State of Alaska. He serves on the Boards of Denali 
State Bank and the Fairbanks Memorial Hospital Foundation. Mike is a 
member of Fairbanks Rotary, a past board member of the Fairbanks 
Chamber

[[Page 2999]]

of Commerce. He just completed eight years on the University of Alaska 
Board of Regents and was the President of the Board from 1996-1998.
  Mike as a leader in the utilities industry are notable. Mike has 
received numerous national, state and local recognitions including the 
Northwest Public Power Association Raver Award in 1986 for displaying 
outstanding community service through leadership. Mike was recently 
named the 199 recipient of the Mason Lazelle Award, the highest honor 
awarded by the industry in Alaska, at the Alaska Rural Electric 
Cooperative Association's Annual Meeting in August, 1999.
  Mike graduated from Monroe High School and from the University of 
Alaska at Fairbanks where he majored in Business Management. He is a 
past recipient of the Business Leader of the Year Award from UAF 
Associated Students of Business.
  Mike is also an avid river boater and pilot and in his spare time he 
enjoys hunting, fishing, trapping and spending time with his family in 
the great Alaskan outdoors.

                          ____________________