Milton Shaw
Director
District 1: Caldwell, Guadalupe, Gonzales and Hays counties
Chair of the Board’s Legal & Governance Committee; member of Member & Employee Services committees.
A 30-year career with Shell Oil Company provided Texas-born Milton Shaw with valuable work and life experience that serves him well in his current role as a member of the Bluebonnet Board of Directors.
Milton retired in 1998 after managing Shell's marketing real estate assets in Atlanta, South Florida, Philadelphia, New Orleans, Mobile, Birmingham, Dallas and Houston. He was elected to the Bluebonnet board in May 2010.
"I gained knowledge with Shell, which will be beneficial in fulfilling the roll as director with Bluebonnet," he said. "I was responsible for preparing and administering budgets and forward-looking five-year plans. Decision-making was a crucial part of my work experience. I believe that asking questions is a critical part of decision-making.
"My position with Shell required me to be able to effectively communicate with others. I think this experience will enable me to make a contribution as a director."
Milton graduated from Southwest Texas State University — now Texas State University. In addition to his career with Shell, he also held management positions with Western Auto and Sears.
Although he is grateful for those experiences, Milton and his wife, Judy, always longed to return to their home state of Texas. "When I retired from Shell, I knew I wanted to come back to where I was raised," he said.
Milton grew up in Luling and Judy was raised in Lockhart. They were high school sweethearts. When the couple returned to Texas, Milton said, "We never thought we'd live in the country." But after a trial period living on the family farm, he said, "Almost immediately, we fell in love with the life. There's a sense of community."
The couple built a home on the 46 acres, where they keep a few head of cattle.
"I enjoy being involved in local affairs and my goal is to give back to the community that gave so much to me," he said.
His current and past community service includes board director of Polonia Water Supply Corporation, board director for Community Action, Inc. - Hays, Blanco and Caldwell Counties, chairman of the Caldwell County Appraisal Review Board, board director of Caldwell County Development Board, president of the Luling Chamber of Commerce, vice president of the Luling Kiwanis Club and fundraiser for the Austin Council of the Boy Scouts of America.
As a member of the Bluebonnet Board of Directors, Milton is the chair of the Legal and Governance Committee and is also on the Employee Services and Member Experience committees. He has also completed the NRECA Board of Leadership Program and has completed the Credentialed Cooperative Director program.
Bluebonnet "is a co-op that is truly concerned about supplying reliable and reasonable electricity to the co-op members," he said. "I've never seen a bond between the employees like I've seen at Bluebonnet. And the employees truly are concerned about the members."
He said electricity "has brought us so far," and he's excited to see what's in store for the future. Bluebonnet continues to look for ways to improve on its service and to encourage energy efficiency, he said.
When he's not attending to co-op duties, Milton enjoys spending time with his three sons, seven grandchildren and five great-grandchildren, and spending time with friends.