DENNIS HUGHES was appointed to the United Cooperative Services Board of Directors in December 2025 to represent District 7 (Northwestern Erath County, Lingleville). Dennis brings decades of leadership experience in education and public service, beginning his career as an agriculture teacher and serving in the role for 16 years before transitioning to principal and superintendent of Three Way ISD. He went on to be superintendent of Lingleville ISD from 2002–2014, as well as interim superintendent of Gordon ISD from 2017–2020.A strong advocate for education, Dennis serves on the Education Service Center 11 board of Directors Texas education. He is also a founding member of the Lingleville Volunteer Fire Department, a member of the Masonic Lodge, and a former city council member for the City of Ovilla. Dennis is a Tarleton State alum with his Master’s in Education.With a deep commitment to community and a strong background in agriculture and education, Dennis is proud to support United’s mission of service excellence. Dennis and his wife reside in Stephenville. They have two children and four grandchildren. On the weekends, he enjoys watching his grandchildren’s sports and activities.
Candidate Forum
Explain how you feel your background and experience will help the cooperative fulfill its mission of providing exceptional service and value to its member-owners.
My diverse background in education and public service gives me the knowledge and skills to be a good director for UCS. Teaching agricultural mechanics gave me the aptitude and understanding of how electricity is generated and transmitted. Being a city council member gave me the knowledge and skills to be transparent and to communicate with constituents. Being a superintendent for a small school district taught me how to stretch a small budget while at the same time providing a great education for students. Being on the Board of Directors for an education service center taught me how to work together as a team member making decisions in a democratic setting for the betterment of schools in that service area. Tying all this together with my desire and motivation, I hope I can be a director that works for the greater good of the co-op, providing electricity and Internet service that is of high reliability for the lowest cost possible.
What avenues do you think United Cooperative Services might explore to make sure that it is seen as being a true asset to the members and communities it serves?
Primarily, supporting the culture of family and a high professional friendly service to our members. The UCS needs to continue extending services to the Internet across our service areas in a prompt fashion, while keeping costs down. Also, we need to continue to research and communicate our findings to the members on new types of electric generation that are economically sound, and at the same time environmentally friendly.
Highlight at least one of the seven cooperative principles and its importance to the membership of the cooperative.
Out of the seven cooperative principles it is hard to isolate just one because all of the principles are there to guide and direct all cooperatives. If I had to choose just one, I would pick the Democratic Member Control. The members are the owners and choose the directors from their own membership. Members elect the directors that decide policy. This is why it is especially important that all members of the UCS vote each year for their directors. This is the best way for members to have a voice in the direction that United Cooperative Services is heading.
List a few important business areas you believe the cooperative needs to be focused on in the next few years and explain why?
We just need to keep providing a family orientated professional service and extreme safety environment that the co-op is known for. We need to continue to extend, update and research the new and evolving Internet service that the co-op has started. Also, we need to research the latest technologies in storage, transmission, and generation of the electric grid in our area to keep providing the highest reliability of electricity to our members, while at the same time keeping costs down.
