Friday, September 20, 2019

NWPPA Honors Debbie Bone-Harris with 2019 Lacy Peoples Award (Northwest Public Power Association)


(VANCOUVER, WA) -- The Northwest Public Power Association’s 2019 Northwest Communications & Energy Innovations Conference (NIC) Planning Committee has selected Franklin County PUD’s Debbie Bone-Harris as this year’s winner of the Lacy Peoples Award for her lifetime commitment to the public power industry and communication and public involvement. The award was presented to Bone-Harris on Tuesday, September 17, at the NIC awards banquet at the Tulalip Resort in Washington.

2019 NIC Chair Jeff Marshall and Lacy
Peoples Award recipient Debbie
Bone-Harris.
Bone-Harris has over 35 years in the utility industry, having started her career at Hanford for 20 years. Now she is the public affairs manager for Franklin County PUD, where she has worked since 2003. During this time, she has held various roles throughout the utility with responsibility for community events, communications, legislative affairs, and public involvement. She has dedicated endless hours to preserving and educating customers and the public about the value of the federal Columbia and Snake River dam system, and working with state and federal legislators in Olympia and Washington, D.C.

She also holds a number of leadership roles, including sitting on the Pasco Chamber of Commerce, Visit Tri-Cities, and Tri-Cities Legislative Council Board of Directors as well as previously sitting on the TRIDEC Board of Directors. In the electric industry, she sits on boards for the Washington Public Utility District Association and the Pacific Northwest Waterways Association. She has held community leadership positions throughout her career, including serving as chair of the Small Business Awards Banquet that ran for 20 years.

“My memory of Deb and her skills has been as a mentor and helping a new crop of communicators come into their own,” said Grays Harbor PUD’s Ian Cope. “As a new member of the utility communications family, I knew little about the industry. Deb was one of the communicators who helped me learn about how to communicate the facts and stories of our industry to customers.”

First given to Lacy Peoples of Cowlitz PUD at the Consumer Services/Communications Conference in 1978, the award is now presented to recipients at the annual NIC. Current or former employees of NWPPA member utilities are eligible to receive this award. The NIC Planning Committee selects recipients based on accomplishments through at least 10 years of marketing and communication experience; at least 20 years of service to the industry; and promotion of public power through efforts such as community service.

Recent Lacy Peoples Award winners include Joel Myer of Mason 3 PUD (2018), Curtis Condon of Ruralite Services (2017), and Barbara Johnson of Tillamook PUD (2016).