Board of Directors

Shiela Rau

Shiela Rau President Email Shiela

Shiela Rau has been on the VEA board of directors, except for two years (2002-03), since 1996. She represents VEA members in the communities of Amargosa Valley, Crystal and Ash Meadows.

Shiela and her husband, Dave, are self-employed and have been married 50 years. She has lived in Amargosa Valley since 1956, and is a Beatty High School graduate.

For five years until last year, when she was reelected to the VEA board for another two-year term, Shiela served as Nevada’s director on the NRECA national board of directors.

“Serving on the NRECA national board reinforced in me that although you’re elected from a district, you truly serve all of the Association’s members,” says Shiela. “I make decisions for the Association as a whole, and all of its members.

“You’re never going to get equity in representation among all four districts,” Shiela says. “What you need is consensus among the current directors, however many they may be, to keep the Association financially sound and healthy. Every district is different, but every district contributes to the strength and well-being of the total co-op, the entire system. If each district were segmented, or fragmented, VEA would be a mess.”

On the theme of VEA unity, Shiela says she recently read former General Manager Phil Parker’s vision of VEA in a letter he wrote during the 1960s, and the content in it still applies today. It is this vision of VEA as one entity that Shiela wants to preserve and continue to promote in the future.

“Little of Phil Parker’s vision and thought has changed,” says Shiela, “despite the growth and many other changes over the years, it’s amazing how VEA’s goals have stayed the same.”

Shiela’s daughter, Shelly Kadrmas, and her husband, Randy, live in Amargosa Valley, and daughter Kelly Weber lives in Moapa Valley. A sister, Sandy Matteson, lives in Pahrump.

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