Senior editor Richard G. Biever is primarily responsible for the cover and feature stories, photographs and computer graphics that appear in Electric Consumer.
He also designs many of the publication’s common pages that all the readers receive around the state. On occasion, he writes commentaries and humor stories. One of his favorite feature projects is working with mascot Willie Wiredhand on the PowerKids page. Biever joined Electric Consumer in December 1988 and is a Certified Cooperative Communicator.
Biever is a four-time winner of the coveted “Writer of the Year” award given by the Cooperative Communicators Association (2001, 2003, 2004 and 2008), and has won scores of other awards throughout his career for writing, photography and design from CCA, the National Electric Cooperatives Statewide Editors Association, Council of Rural Electric Communicators and the Hoosier State Press Association.
During his time at Electric Consumer, the publication has twice won the Haggard Award, given annually by the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association to the best rural electric cooperative statewide publication in the country. In addition, he and editor Emily Schilling also created and continue to coordinate and oversee the annual Cooperative Student Art contest and calendar project. The student art calendar is a popular project among students statewide and has won multiple awards in various communications contests.
At various times in his career, he served on the board of directors of both CCA and SEA.
Before coming to Electric Consumer, Biever was a photographer and reporter for a suburban Indianapolis newspaper. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Indiana University in 1984 where he majored in journalism and minored in Fine Arts-graphic design. While at IU, he served on the Arbutus yearbook staff.
He is a native of Tell City, Ind. His journalism career began in Tell City working for the Perry County News. He also worked at community newspapers in Spencer County, Posey County and northern Kentucky which were part of the Landmark Community Newspapers chain. He also worked during the summer of 1984 at the Scripps-Howard paper, The Knoxville News-Sentinel, in Knoxville, Tenn.
Biever enjoys history, collecting rural electrification memorabilia and bicycling (when he has the time) and is also an avid follower of New York Mets baseball and musical artist Bob Dylan.
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