Jim Herrick to Retire from REG

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Jim Herrick, described by an appreciative REG colleague as “a really special industry stalwart,” is retiring at year’s end.

“Jim Herrick started in the industry in 1976, when he was hired to do a feasibility study on whether there was enough traffic flow and rig count to warrant putting in a full service truck plaza around the Exit 2 area of the Mass Pike,” Herrick’s REG colleague Barry Knox, director of blended fuel sales for REG Energy Services, Portsmouth, N.H., recalled in an email:

“Jim, a Boston College graduate, completed that study, and the rest, as they say, is history. Jim became the fuel manager of Diesel Dan’s Truck Stop in Lee, Massachusetts. That business sustained incredible growth and profitability while Jim managed the operation.

“In 1990, Sprague was looking for a wholesale diesel sales manager for its proprietary branded diesel, which we know today as Sprague’s RoadForce. It was there that I met ‘Gentleman Jim,’” Knox recalled. “After many years at Sprague, Jim followed Frank Sestito (and me) to Total Energy Solutions, never missing a beat with his loyal customers. Finally, in 2013, we were hired to help REG expand its brand recognition in the Northeast.”

REG was marketing product in New York City, and it was a natural (logical) progression to go into Albany, N.Y., Knox said. East Coast market dynamics being very different from the Midwest, REG recruited Herrick, Knox and other petroleum industry veterans to build relationships in the Mid-Atlantic and New England regions. REG now sells products in the Northeast from terminals throughout the region, including locations in Newark, N.J.; New Hyde Park, N.Y.; Albany, N.Y.; New Haven, Conn.; Providence, R.I.; Braintree, Mass.; Portsmouth, N.H.; and Portland, Me.

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“So here we sit 42 years later, and Jim will retire from an industry that really does owe him a debt of gratitude,” Knox said. “Jim worked hard for the industry, his employer, and his customer accounts, and was always willing to ‘do the work, no regrets.’

“From his professional, dignified demeanor to his commonsense commercial analyses, Jim stayed loyal to his Berkshire roots,” Knox said. “I will sorely miss that. The industry (and heck, the country) needs more of that purposeful problem-solving that’s not a zero-sum game. I wish Jim, his wife Valerie and his family the very best in his retirement, which will surely include family and sports, two of Jim’s many passions. OMG the hoop stories, the hunting stories, and the Norman Rockwell encounters… The best part? All of them true.

Jim Herrick’s last day at REG is scheduled to fall on Dec. 31.

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