At the 2026 ElectriCities Annual Conference, we recognized six individuals with Public Power Awards for their outstanding contributions to public power.
Randy McCaslin from the City of High Point received a Lifetime Achievement Award.
This prestigious award recognizes sustained long-term outstanding leadership, public power service, innovation, and creativity.
Randy spent more than 42 years in municipal management in North Carolina, including 15 years in the public power community of High Point, where he served as Deputy City Manager and Chief Operating Officer while overseeing the City’s electric operations.
On the ElectriCities Board of Directors from 2019 to 2024, Randy served terms as Secretary, Vice Chair, and Chair, and provided leadership on numerous committees. He also served on the Board of Commissioners and the Rate Committee for North Carolina Municipal Power Agency Number 1.
For Randy, municipal service is more than a career. It’s part of his family’s story.
He’s a High Point native and a third-generation City employee. His grandfather worked in the fire department for 30 years, and his father, Billy McCaslin, was Superintendent of the Electric Department. One of the City’s substations is named for Randy’s father.
That kind of legacy says a lot. It speaks to a family rooted in service, and it speaks to Randy’s own choice to carry that legacy forward with steadiness, humility, and purpose. He built a career around helping cities work better for the people who depend on them every day.
Randy’s a natural leader, and he’s immediately likable. He has a gift for taking complex issues and boiling them down in plain English, helping people understand not just what decision is in front of them, but why it matters.
That came in handy on the ElectriCities Board, where members come from different backgrounds and bring different levels of experience with the energy industry.
That same quality shined in High Point. Randy was an advocate for the electric utility and for major projects that required City Council approval—projects like an online streetlight outage reporting system and the City’s multiyear AMI project. He made sure council members understood what those projects meant for the City as a whole and why they were important.
Randy’s impact wasn’t limited to projects and infrastructure. He also understood that a strong utility depends on strong people.
When High Point was struggling to retain electric utility employees, Randy helped push through changes that brought pay back to market rate and helped retain key staff. That took more than administrative skill. It took courage and judgment—understanding how critical the electric utility is to the City and being willing to have difficult conversations.
Randy also had an eye for talent. When High Point needed a succession plan for electric leadership, he saw potential in Tyler Berrier, then in the Engineering department, and encouraged him to consider moving to the electric utility.
Tyler later called the move the best thing for his career and something he’s forever grateful for. Today, Tyler is the director of High Point Energy and the 2022 Public Power Rising Star Award recipient.
That succession story says a lot about Randy’s leadership. He could see capabilities in people they may not have fully seen in themselves, and he understood where those capabilities could best serve the organization.
Along the way, Randy brought the same qualities to every role: honesty, calm, clarity, and a deep understanding of public power’s value. If it was Monday, he may have brought those qualities with a sunburn, and the only question was whether it came from playing golf or watching App State football.
In the end, Randy’s years of service aren’t just a list of titles or projects, although that list is long. It’s the trust he built, the people he developed, the utility he strengthened, the communities he served. And it’s the example he set for others who believe in public service and public power.
With this award, we celebrate Randy, not only for what he accomplished, but for how he accomplished it: with plainspoken leadership, steady service, and a lifelong commitment to doing what was right for his community and for public power.
Randy, congratulations on receiving a 2026 Public Power Lifetime Achievement Award. Thank you for your years of dedicated service and for all you’ve done for public power.
Meet the additional 2026 Public Power Award recipients:
- Rising Star Award: Shawn Young from Wilson
- Many Hats Award (for communities with 5,000 or fewer meter customers): Anna Hughey from Maiden
- Many Hats Award (for communities with more than 5,000 meter customers): Sandy Driggers from High Point
- Distinguished Service Award: Rob Miller from Monroe
- Lifetime Achievement Award: Vivian Jones from Wake Forest