Retirement? Joe Rose Calls It ‘Shifting Gears’

A walk from the 2017 NPGA Southeastern Propane Convention in Nashville to a hotel restaurant across the street is not a fast one when you walk with Joe Rose! Joe knows everyone and everyone knows Joe!

This year, all of Rose’s friends and associates through 35 years in the propane industry are reaching out to shake his hand and wish him well as he retires in July. For the past 10 years, Rose has been president and CEO of the Propane Gas Association of New England (PGANE), an association he helped build from the ground up to 775 members. In July, Rose will leave the Association and Leslie Anderson, a propane industry veteran from Maine who has been working with Rose for the past six months, will take the helm.

Before you get the idea that Rose is going away totally, it may be more a matter of shifting gears. He plans to stay on as an NPGA Benchmarking Facilitator; is applying for a role as a public member on the Propane Education & Research Council; and is also planning to work part-time for Lin’s Propane Trucks. “It would be tough to just leave the industry altogether,” Rose said. “I am just going to change my priorities some and put my wife first for once!”

For the past 10 years, Rose has been entirely devoted to leading PGANE. Today the association has four full-time staff members serving 775 members in six states: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts. PGANE restructured in 2007 following a strategic plan which resulted in hiring Rose in response to propane marketers who wanted more of a presence in the state government chambers in New England and a face and voice for propane. Rose moved from Rhode Island to New Hampshire to be based near the middle of the six-state region. He is within two and a half hours of each State Capitol so he can travel quickly to serve all of them as a face and a voice for the industry.

Rose acknowledges that working in six different states, all with their own unique laws and regulations, can often be challenging. Within the six, there are a total of five different NFPA code books being followed. There are six fire marshals, attorneys general, and legislatures to get to know. “Those present some of the tougher issues,” Rose said. “On the plus side, New England is in many ways a model region for the industry. New England companies get some of the best margins in the country. Strong margins can cure a lot of ills! Many members can be more active in the industry, invest in professional development, and focus on the overall leadership of their operations. Few New England owners ever drive a bobtail.”

For the 25 years before Rose led PGANE, after being recruited away from the Convenience Store industry by a brother-in law, he was employed in a variety of different professional retail propane marketer roles including work at Star Gas, Trexler Haines, and Propane Plus; he performed many volunteer services as well. Rose served on the PERC Safety and Training Advisory Committee (STAC) for seven years with three as chairman. He has also served on the NPGA Education, Training and Safety Committee, and has helped to teach NFPA courses as well as leading an NPGA Benchmarking Group. When asked why he has performed so many volunteer services, Rose said, “I am a teacher at heart. I have always taken pride in helping to make retail propane marketers successful.”

Once at PGANE, Rose knew that communication was key to its success. He started a Wednesday update that goes out regularly. “This was just something I believed in from the beginning. People want to be informed regularly about what is going on.” Communication doesn’t stop at the association-to-member communication. Rose believes that building trust with many government officials is key to legislative and regulatory success. “We need to work with a lot of different officials to be able to keep supply and prices as predictable and stable as possible. Customers don’t like fluctuations. We are often reliant on people outside our industry to add storage or improve our shipping and transportation infrastructure to keep price surprises and other challenges to a minimum.”

While Rose starts to think about a future of more gardening, fishing, boating and chores for his wife Audrey, he has some advice for those who will continue to work in the propane industry. He encourages marketers to get rid of some of their biases and “head trash” that may be holding them back. “Don’t be scared to raise your price a dime a gallon and see what happens,” Rose said. “Too often marketers don’t realize they are a leader in setting the market area price too low. We need to focus on taking business from electricity and other fuels, not other retail propane marketers.” While improved appliance efficiency may have cut the need for propane in half since he joined the industry, Rose feels there are plenty of new opportunities with water heaters, fireplaces, clothes dryers and cooking stoves to take load away from other fuels such as electricity.

Rose also encourages marketers to embrace new technology and new opportunities such as autogas. As he looks at positive changes that have come about during his time in the industry, he often gives credit to the next generation of retail propane marketers who are often more tech savvy and ready to challenge the status quo. “I love to see the younger generations convince Dad that there is a better way to do things to improve profits. Marketers need to focus on improving margins and adding load.”

Of course, Rose also encourages members to support their association. “Propane marketers are stronger in numbers,” he said, “Fifty retail propane marketers walking into a State Capitol will get attention!”