CEO/General Manager, Yellowstone Valley Electric Cooperative
This Day In The Life blog features Brandon J. Wittman the CEO/General Manager, Yellowstone Valley Electric Cooperative, and a panelist for our 2025 Ag Celebration Banquet on January 31, 2025.
Brandon was born and raised in the Billings area. He graduated high school from Huntley Project and attended college at Carroll and MSUB.
He grew up working for local ag producers in the summers. Yellowstone Valley Electric Cooperative serves a large number of ag producers and his Board of Directors are all in businesses that are directly related to agriculture. Brandon currently serves on the Board of Directors for both CoBank and the Farm Credit Council. The Council is headquartered in DC and advocates for Farm Credit. Additionally, he serves on the Briarwood Board of Directors.
The biggest challenges in 2025 are commodity prices. Inflation is always quick to rise, but very sticky coming down. It’s a cycle and we are definitely in the sticky down phase, with input costs high, but commodities out of phase with that.
His biggest success is his team. The group of employees assembled at YVEC are second none. They operate at an efficiency level that is in the top 5% nationally. To put it simply, we do more with less and that starts with our amazing employees.
Brandon is excited about agriculture because nobody does it better. The United States has the highest standards, best production and best ag products in the world. He believes that we do not need to overregulate the ag industry; we need to let farmers and ranchers do what they do best.
Brandon is the CEO and General Manager of Yellowstone Valley Electric Cooperative an electric distribution cooperative, located just outside of Billings, MT. He has served in that role since 2012 and has worked his entire 30-year career at YVEC. Brandon has served on the CoBank Board of Directors since 2018 and is currently the Second Vice Chairman of that Board and the Chairman of CoBank’s Governance Committee. He also is a director on the Farm Credit Council Board in Washington, D.C.
He has served several local non-profit and charitable organizations, coached many local youth sports teams and helped create the first lineman school in Montana.
Discover more about Brandon and the significant impact of the electric and agricultural industries on our city and region at the 2025 Ag Celebration Banquet, where Brandon will be featured as one of our Ag panelists.
