NEFI Legends Awards Dinner & Reception
The New England Fuel Institute’s Legends Awards Dinner & Reception at the 2019 HEAT Show honored families that have served their communities and the industry for multiple generations. “Family businesses remain the backbone of Main Street America’s fuel delivery trade,” NEFI noted in its program for the event, which was held Sept. 17 in the Biltmore Ballroom in the Graduate Providence Hotel.
The 2019 Legends Awards Honorees are:
The Cullinan Family of RI Petroleum Equipment Company, Pawtucket, RI
The Ermer Family of Palmer Gas & Oil, Atkinson, NH
The Estes Family of Estes Oil & Propane, York, ME
The Gault Family of Gault Energy, Westport, CT
The Hart Family of Hart Home Comfort, Oakdale, NY
The Korrows Family of Gillespie Fuels & Propane, Northfield, VT
The Noonan Family of Noonan Energy, Springfield, MA
In his welcome letter to attendees of HEAT, published in the show program, NEFI President and CEO Sean Cota noted “the long-anticipated return of the NEFI Legends Awards Dinner,” last held in 2017. Cota also pointed out, “We stand again at a pivotal moment for our industry, and [fuel dealers] are at ground zero. All of us, in one way or another—and probably in more ways than one—are invested in the future of this industry. Today, that industry is truly at a fork in the road. Down one path, a shrinking market share, diminishing prospects and fading relevance. Down a different path, new ideas about what our industry means to consumers, new solutions that will revolutionize the way we do business, and new opportunities for the current and future generations of our family businesses. As we’ve said before and will say again, the latter is hard road to take, but it is the only road forward for our industry.”
