Robert “Bob” Rademacher has been employed by Dakota Energy Cooperative, Inc., Huron, formerly Beadle Electric Cooperative, since 1972. He has served as CEO since 1983. He also was employed by Rosebud Electric, Gregory and the South Dakota Rural Electric Association, Pierre.

He was a licensed electrician for many years and run the wiring department at Beadle Electric. He was a certified electric heat installer and estimator and a certified energy conversion specialist.

He has served as a board member of the South Dakota Electric Council and was co-chairman of several South Dakota Electric Councils annual conventions.
He has served as a president of South Dakota Rural Electric’s Member Services Association and the South Dakota Rural Electric’s Manager’s Association.
He has served as chairman of the East River Electric Power Cooperative Managers for three years and served on the Basin Electric Power Cooperative Manager’s advisor committee for three years. He presently serves on the board of the Rural Electric Economic Development, Inc. and the Cooperative Service Alliance both headquartered in Madison, South Dakota.
Nationally, Rademacher has served on various rural electric committees and as a board member of Federated Rural Electric Insurance, Inc.
Locally he has served as a board member of the Huron School Board, the Community Council Board, the Norwest Bank Community Board, the Habitat for Humanity Board, the Huron Safety Council, the Huron Historic Area and the Huron Chamber of Commerce. In many of these he served as the chairman.

He presently serves on the board of the Center of Independence and its foundation board. He also serves on the board of the Greater Huron Economic Development Corporation.

Rademacher and his wife, Jean, have a daughter, Rhonda that lives near Letcher, South Dakota, and a son, Ryan that lives in Zurich, Switzerland. They have two grandchildren.