AIEC VP Jim Miles honored

AIEC Vice President of Training, Safety & Loss Control Jim Miles, CLCP, has been named this year's recipient of the 2025 H.C. Potthast Award. The award honors a job training and safety instructor who reflects Herman "Potty" Potthast's spirit of dedication, leadership, cooperation and service.

Miles has spent more than two decades making sure co-op employees across Illinois get home safe every night. Starting as a line clearance foreman back in 2002, he steadily built his career and today leads training, safety and loss-control programs at the Association of Illinois Electric Cooperatives.

His colleagues describe him as the kind of leader everyone wants to work with - honest, approachable and genuinely invested in helping others grow. Miles empowers his team to explore new projects and champions their professional growth. He never hesitates to pitch in himself - whether leading high school students on the Washington Youth Tour or earning OSHA instructor credentials to help co-ops reduce costs.

He's also a fixture beyond Illinois, serving on the NUTSEA board and promoting its mission of sharing safety knowledge nationwide. In short, Miles embodies the cooperative spirit: highly skilled, humble and devoted to keeping people safe while lifting those around him.