CEO

Gary Roulet, a longtime WFEC employee, has served as Chief Executive Officer for over 20 years. Roulet, who has nearly 50 years of executive, managerial, supervisory, and technical experience with WFEC, began his career with the generation and transmission cooperative in 1974. 

Roulet currently serves in various capacities of utility industry organizations and boards, including the ACES Power Marketing Board, the Southwestern Power Resources Board and the Board of the Fort Cobb Reservoir Master Conservancy District. He is past president of the Board of the Oklahoma Association of Electric Cooperatives (OAEC) and a member and past chairman of the OAEC Steering Committee. In the past, Roulet has also served on national, state and other committees, both industry-related and within the Anadarko community.  

Roulet has a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting, with a minor in Computer Science, from Southwestern Oklahoma State University. Roulet and his wife, Gail, reside in a rural area near Newcastle.

EXECUTIVE Vice President, Power Delivery & Technology

Ron Cunningham, Executive Vice President, Power Delivery, began his employment with WFEC in 1974. He worked in various positions within the Accounting and Finance department, including the position of department manager.

In 1995, Cunningham was promoted to senior management, where he served in several positions, including chief financial officer, general manager of Corporate Services, treasurer and financial risk officer and general manager of Transmission and Distribution Services, prior to his current role.

A graduate of Gracemont High School, Cunningham earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Southwestern Oklahoma State University and a Master of Arts degree from the University of Oklahoma and is a Leadership Oklahoma, Class XIV graduate.

Cunningham is also a past president of the Generation & Transmission (G&T) Accounting and Finance Association.

He and his wife, Karen, live in Norman. They have two daughters and four grandchildren.

Vice President & CFO

Mark Conway was promoted to the position of Vice President & Chief Financial Officer in August 2023. Prior to this role, he served as Manager of Financial Services and as the Chief Accountant.

Conway began his career with WFEC in July 2017. Prior to this time, he worked in other industries. Conway’s current responsibilities include general and property accounting, finance, treasury, tax, external audits, budget, procurement, inventory and warehousing.

Conway is a Certified Public Accountant that is a member of The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and Oklahoma Society of Certified Public Accountants. He is also a member of the G&T Accounting & Finance Association.

Conway earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Accountancy from Southern Nazarene University and a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Central Oklahoma. He and his wife, Janet, reside near Moore and have one daughter and one son.

Vice President, Generation

Justin has worked in the utility industry for over 20 years including Duke Energy and Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) prior to coming to WFEC.  Soderberg came to work at WFEC in 2008 as a Plant Engineer at the Hugo Plant.  AT WFEC, he has held the positions of Plant Engineer, Generation Engineering Manager, and Anadarko Plant manager prior to being promoted to Senior Manger, Generation in July 2022.

Justin has a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Memphis and a Master of Business from Union University.  Justin lives in Norman with his wife Leah and 2 children Emma and Evan.  In his spare time Justin likes cycling, working with the Boy Scouts, woodworking, and home improvement projects.

Vice President, Marketing & Member Relations

Mark Faulkenberry, Vice President, Member Relations & Marketing, a longtime employee in the cooperative industry, was promoted to his current role in April 2018. Prior to this appointment, he served as Senior Manager, Member Relations and Manager of Marketing and Communication at WFEC.

Faulkenberry came to WFEC by way of one of its distribution cooperatives, Alfalfa Electric Cooperative, where he served as Manager of Engineering and Key Accounts for over 15 years.  With an additional 20+ years of experience at WFEC, Faulkenberry has a combined total of over 35 years of experience in the electric utility industry. 

Faulkenberry graduated from Oklahoma State University, with a degree in Agriculture Engineering Technology.  He was a member of Leadership Oklahoma (LOK) - Class 21. Faulkenberry and his wife, Yvonne, reside in the Mustang Area.

Vice President, Special Projects

David Sonntag, Vice President, Special Projects, began his career with WFEC in 2000.  He worked at the Hugo Plant as a plant engineer, operations superintendent, and eventually plant manager.  For a few years, he relocated to WFEC’s headquarters to serve as manager, generation engineering, before returning to the Hugo Plant in 2011 to serve as plant manager.

In 2018, Sonntag was promoted to a senior management position and relocated to WFEC’s headquarters. Responsibilities in his current role are corporate planning, resource planning, regional market planning, and transmission and distribution engineering.

Sonntag earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Maryland at College Park. He and his wife, Shontell, live in Moore and have two daughters.

Vice President, Legal & Regulatory Compliance

Matt Caves was promoted to the position of Senior Manager, Legal and Regulatory Compliance in April 2018. Prior to this role, he served as Manager for Legal and Regulatory Compliance and as the WFEC Compliance Officer.

Caves began his career with WFEC in 2014 after nearly 15 years as a State regulatory attorney and working in private practice specializing in corporate environmental issues. Current responsibilities include serving as senior management for environmental, health and safety and serving as the Compliance Officer for NERC compliance. Caves also focuses on contracting and managing the cooperative’s legal issues and outside legal resources.

He also serves as WFEC’s representative on the Southwest Power Pool (SPP) Markets and Operations Policy Committee (MOPC), is currently serving a three-year term on the Midwest Reliability Organization (MRO) Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement Program Advisory Council (MRO CMEP) and was appointed to the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) Air Quality Advisory Council (AQAC) as the electric utility representative.

Caves earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Wildlife and Fisheries Ecology from Oklahoma State University and a Juris Doctorate degree from the University of Oklahoma, College of Law, where he spent a semester studying European Economic Law at the University of Oxford, Queen’s College. He and his wife, Jamie, live near Amber and have two sons.

Vice President, Information & Security

Michael Meason, Senior Manager, Information and Security, was promoted to his current role in June 2018. Meason began his career at WFEC in 2009 as a Senior Network Engineer and also served as the Manager of Technical Services.

Meason has over 20 years of experience in enterprise information technology and cybersecurity within the Financial Services sector and the Electric Utility Industry. His areas of influence include information technology (IT), operational technology (OT), telecommunications engineering, network engineering/operations, and cybersecurity. Meason earned a Bachelor of Science Computer Information Systems from Cameron University, and an Master of Science, Telecommunications Management from Oklahoma State University, and an Master of Business Administration from the University of Oklahoma. Meason is a lifetime member of Leadership Oklahoma Class 32. He and his wife, Lea, reside near Cyril and have two daughters.

Vice President, Human Resources

Rodney Palesano currently serves in the role of Senior Manager, Human Resources. He has been at WFEC over 25 years. He has more than 20 years of WFEC experience in Human Resources, a couple of years of Resource Planning, and about 5 years of Safety & Training.

Palesano holds a Bachelor of Science in Fire Protection & Safety Engineering Technology from Oklahoma State University. He also took advantage of WFEC’s education reimbursement program to obtain a Master of Arts degree in Organizational Management, graduating in 2000.

Palesano’s current responsibilities include administration of the health and retirement plans (medical, dental, life insurance, retirement security plan, 401(k) plans, short- and long-term disability plans), Property & Casualty insurance plans, compensation, payroll, recruitment, employment regulations related compliance and HR functions.

Palesano has participated and held officer positions on multiple Boards, focus groups and industry related organizations to promote WFEC and community interests. He actively participates in opportunities to provide input and direction to NRECA to offer effective heath, retirement, and compensation programs.

He and his wife, Michelle, reside in Chickasha and have one daughter and one son.