O’Bryan retires; Pittman appointed new general manager of DE

David O’Bryan, a Winona native, retired April 26 as General Manager and CEO of DE LightSpeed ​​from Delta Electric after a 32-year career. O’Bryan was hired as Controller on March 16, 1992 and was elected secretary-treasurer of the association in 2002. On June 6, 2015, O’Bryan succeeded Ronnie Robertson as the fourth, full-time general manager in Delta Electric’s 86-year history. During his tenure as general manager, the cooperative continued to emphasize high-quality customer service, system reliability and outage management.

“Another of my highest priorities has been the safety of our employees and we have continued to emphasize the importance of our accredited safety program,” said O’Bryan.

A major achievement during his time as General Manager was offering fiber broadband services through Delta Electric’s wholly owned fiber broadband subsidiary, Delta Fiber LLC, doing business as DE LightSpeed.

“With the help of our local legislators, the Mississippi Broadband Enabling Act was passed, allowing us to get into the broadband business for the first time,” he said.

Delta Fiber LLC, doing business as DE LightSpeed, was founded in 2019 and O’Bryan has served as CEO since then. With the help of employees, outside consultants and contractors, Delta Electric began its first fiber construction project in Carroll County in 2020, which was funded by a $4.9 million dollar CARES Act grant. Delta Fiber LLC subsequently won grant funding from the FCC Rural Digital Opportunity Fund in 2021 in the amount of $46.9 million dollars spread over 10 years, allowing it to expand its fiber broadband service to other parts of Carroll County, along with parts of Holmes, Grenada, Leflore and Montgomery Counties. Symmetrical broadband services are offered with speeds of up to 1,000 megabits per second or gigabit internet service.

“This has certainly been one of the most rewarding times of my career as we now offer our members world-class ultra-fast fiber internet services at affordable prices,” O’Bryan explains. “Delta Fiber LLC plans to expand its broadband services to Bolivar, Sunflower and Washington counties over the next three to four years.”

O’Bryan graduated from the University of Mississippi with a degree in accounting. He is a Lyceum Life Member of the University of Mississippi Alumni Association. He holds professional titles such as Certified Public Accountant and Chartered Global Management Accountant. He also holds memberships in the Mississippi Society of CPAs and the American Institute of CPAs. His community activities include serving on the board of directors of the Greenwood-Leflore Industrial Board, the board of the Greenwood-Leflore-Carroll Economic Development Foundation, the board of the Carroll County Development Association and the Board of Directors of the Mississippi Economic Council. He is also chairman of the board of directors of the McCarley Water Association, past president of the Greenwood Kiwanis Club and active on the Delta Council. His industry activities included serving on the Cooperative Energy Board of Directors and as chairman of the Budget Committee. Cooperative Energy is the generation and transmission cooperative of Delta Electric, headquartered in Hattiesburg. He also served on the board of the Electric Cooperatives of Mississippi, along with several committee assignments. O’Bryan also served as an Executive Committee member and Secretary-Treasurer of MS Fiber LLC, a Middle-Mile Internet transportation company headquartered in Ridgeland.

He and his wife Lou live in the McCarley community of Carroll County, where they are active members of McCarley Baptist Church. They have two married children, Andy (Macon) from Oxford and Brad (Monica) from McCarley, and they have three granddaughters, Ava Elizabeth, Ainslee Marie and Maren Hart.

“I would like to thank the boards of directors of Delta Electric and Delta Fiber LLC, along with our great employees and our members, for their support during my time at Delta Electric,” said O’Bryan. “It has been an incredible journey and I am forever grateful for this opportunity. I have made many lifelong friends and I look forward to more time with Lou and our family, along with opportunities for travel and projects on our farm.”

PITTMAN MENTIONS NEXT

GENERAL MANAGER

The Delta Electric Power Association board of directors has named Harold Pittman to succeed David O’Bryan as general manager. Pittman, Assistant General Manager and Chief Engineer of Delta EPA, will assume his new duties on April 26. Pittman, a native of Winona and a 1989 graduate of Winona Academy, earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Mississippi State University in 1993. Pittman also earned his Professional Engineer license in 2000, and a master’s degree in business administration from Delta State University in 2002. Before joining the Delta EPA staff in 1995, Pittman worked as a production engineer for Takata Restraint Systems.

During his tenure at Delta EPA, Pittman has served as a systems engineer, district manager, chief engineer and assistant general manager. Pittman plans to focus on continuing to provide the best service at the lowest possible cost.

Pittman says, “I plan to leverage technology and retain good employees to keep our quality of service at the level our members expect.”

“I know Delta Electric and Delta Fiber will be in good hands with Harold as my successor. He has many years of experience and is highly respected by his colleagues and our employees. It will be a seamless transition,” said David O’Bryan.

Pittman and his wife Alison live in Carroll County. They have two children, Mary Evelyn and Samuel. They are active members of North Greenwood Baptist Church.