Meet Jeff Puffer: husband, father, coach, and a member of the Cherryland Electric Cooperative team. This fall marks the one-year anniversary of his arrival at Cherryland. Though significant, his time at Cherryland is short compared to the 15 years he has spent working for utilities.

Puffer was born and raised in Manton, MI. He was a natural born athlete, playing football for Manton High School and later joining the Ferris State University football team as a defensive end.

Upon graduating, he moved to Minnesota and played arena football professionally. He spent a year on the team before deciding to hang up his helmet. “It was an interesting experience,” says Puffer, “but ultimately it wasn’t for me.”

Puffer returned to his hometown in 2001 and officially began his utility career as a water/waste water operator. He would hold that title for 12 years and work throughout Wexford County before getting a taste of the electric utility business with Wolverine Power Cooperative.

Being that Wolverine is Cherryland’s power supplier, it was natural that Puffer would hear talk about the co-op. “While working at Wolverine, I kept hearing about Cherryland and the great reputation it had with the community. I was definitely interested.” A year later, when a position opened up at Cherryland, Puffer jumped at the chance to work for the co-op.

Puffer is a metering technician. His job is to handle the installation and maintenance of meters throughout Cherryland’s service area.

Working on meters requires that he wears many hats. He needs to be prepared like a lineman when an issue requires immediate attention, supportive like a member service representative when speaking with members about power usage, and mechanical like an engineer when a meter malfunctions.

With all these nuances, his favorite part of working at Cherryland is the people. “I like that I get to work with everybody. We all help each other to achieve common goals.”

When Puffer isn’t working on meters, he is spending time with his wife and two kids. One thing he enjoys, in particular, is coaching his kids’ sports teams. Whether it’s football, basketball, baseball or softball, Puffer believes that coaching is a “great way for me to take part in my kids’ interests.” He also jokes that he can’t sit still. “It’s hard for me to just sit in the bleachers and watch,” he admits.

In everything he does, Puffer is a team player, working hard to achieve the goals of the co-op and his family