Erickson grew up admiring the work ethic and service mindset embodied by his father, who spent decades as a lineman in the electrical construction industry before retiring from Minnkota Power. While Erickson said climbing poles was not for him, the electrical field held his interest and led him to pursue an associate degree in Electrical Technology. That training opened doors to several electrical roles, including a short stint at Minnkota before joining Cass County Electric.

“I worked at Minnkota for a while,” Erickson said. “My dad was a lineman his whole life, but that wasn’t my cup of tea. I went to college for electrical technology. Cass had an opening, and it got me back close to home.”

His decision to build a career at Cass was shaped by safety, stability, people, and purpose.
“You meet good people here,” Erickson said. “Co-ops are stable. That stability matters in winter when other industries lay people off. I wanted to represent a place that protected workers and valued the people behind the work. Cass hires honest people, people who care about members from their soul.”

Erickson held multiple different roles over his career in technical services, working as a Power Control Technician, SCADA technician, Power Quality Technician and most recently Manager of Technical Services where he oversaw the metering/apparatus department, Scada department, the Power Quality program as well as the distributed energy resource platforms. He described the opportunities to grow inside the cooperative as part of what made him stay.

“We served about 11,000 locations when I started,” Erickson said. “Today it’s almost 61,000. The area grew, the demographics shifted, but the mission stayed the same.”
He played a central role in the rollout of Cass County Electric’s SCADA system in 1996, building substation displays operators would use to remotely monitor voltage, current, loading, switching, and power quality.

“SCADA gave us the ability to respond to outages faster, restore more members quicker,” Erickson said. “We can see problems before failures happen and correct them before members even know there might be one. That’s reliability. That’s innovation.”

He also pointed to generator automation projects in 2002 and 2003 as key milestones. Over 18 months, ten 2-megawatt diesel generators were installed across three substations, each remotely wired and operational from the co-op’s control center.

“That was a big project,” Erickson said. “The equipment had to start when we pushed the button and stop when we pushed stop. Those generators pay for themselves, but they’ll eventually be replaced with something more modern moving forward into the future. That’s the nature of the industry. The projects change, but the purpose doesn’t. It’s always member driven.”

Erickson described power quality in simple, relatable terms, informed by thousands of hours spent on member issues, helping them understand their energy system.

“Power quality means when you flip the switch, the lights are on,” Erickson said. “No flickering. Stable, constant power without interruptions. If you’re a farmer, you want your bin fans running without tripping offline. Quality power protects equipment, productivity, provides peace of mind.”

He described mentorship as a lasting, human cornerstone of his career.

“I think everybody here touches you in their own way,” Erickson said. “But your supervisors mold you. You can hire a person and train a skill, but you can’t train integrity.”

He named Brad Schmidt among the leaders who guided him, emphasizing openness and dialogue as defining cooperative strengths.

“Accessibility and discussion, that’s what sticks,” Erickson said. “Cass always hires wholesome people. Honest people. That culture carries you.”

As he looks to retirement, Erickson echoed a familiar refrain: Retirement does not mean slowing down.

“I’m looking forward to my time being my time,” Erickson said. “I’ve got hobbies. I’ll juggle them. I won’t sit still. Retirement means the next chapter is open, and I’m ready.”