Four 2025 Hall of Fame inductees to join a distinguished list

In our March issue, you’ll see a long list of names, of past and present propane industry leaders who stand tall today in the LP Gas Hall of Fame.

This list serves as a timeline, not only of the inductees’ progression into the Hall of Fame since its launch in 2012, but as an initial look at the industry’s history, of men and women who made their mark on the industry in their own special way.

We tell each of their stories online at lpgashalloffame.com. And in many cases, they also tell their own stories, as we offer many of their induction speeches and slideshows from the annual event on our dedicated website. These are special moments. Oftentimes, there’s not a dry eye on the stage or in the ballroom when the inductees or their families address the audience.

On the cover of this issue, you’ll see four faces – of individuals who are on the cusp of joining these elite propane industry members in the Hall of Fame: Tom Knauff of EDP, Rita Pecilunas of Otodata, Walter Smith of Smith Pumps and Full-Circle, and Ken Taylor of White Mountain Oil & Propane. We tell their stories inside this issue, and on April 3, we as an industry will honor them at the LP Gas Hall of Fame dinner and induction ceremony in Charlotte, North Carolina, ahead of the Southeastern & International Propane Expo.

We hope to see you there in what has become an industrywide celebration.

HR Solutions returns

Seven years ago this month, we launched a column focused on human resources (HR) because we felt this side of retail propane operations was overlooked. We called it HR Solutions. We wanted to bring on an HR professional who could help our readers navigate this complex part of their businesses – even if they didn’t have an official HR department.

Cathy Wallace of San Isabel Services Propane, a 20-year HR professional, was our first HR columnist. When Cathy stepped away, another Kathy, EDP’s Kathy Johnson, took over the column in 2023. Both did an exceptional job, and I looked forward to reading their insights in the magazine.

This month, we’re excited to introduce our new HR Solutions contributor – Kelly Bosak, the chief people officer at Lettermen’s Energy. Kelly, with a deep background in both HR and the propane industry, is coming in strong with her first column, focused on artificial intelligence as a powerful tool in HR settings.
The work environment became more complex during the COVID-19 years, and things haven’t gotten any easier since. Kelly’s columns will help provide some direction. Please feel free to suggest specific HR-related topics that we can address in the magazine.

New series on agriculture

Many of you probably know Kelly from her many years in the propane industry. I’m guessing many of you also know Mark Leitman, who spent a decade with the Propane Education & Research Council and more recently with Blue Star Gas on the West Coast, before he stepped away from the industry.

Mark grew up immersed in agriculture, as he explains in the first of our four-part series on topics at the intersection of propane and agriculture. In talking to Mark and reading his work, you can tell he’s passionate about this market. That’s why this month and in the May, July and September issues this year, you’ll have a chance to read articles from Mark that will be helpful to propane marketers who sell gallons in ag country. Again, let us know if you have ag-specific topics for us to address.

We’re looking forward to these new offerings in 2025. Certainly, we have a lot of exciting things happening – and a lot to celebrate.

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