Marty Kirshner, partner at Gray, Gray & Gray, has made it his mission to help propane marketers take an integrated approach to managing the business and financial side of their companies — but he brings more to the table than just earnings statements and tax returns.
In Marty’s nomination for Industry Innovators, a longtime industry partner stated, “Marty is continuing the legacy of innovation at Gray, Gray & Gray [for] propane retailers and other fuel distributors. For more than 34 years, the firm has conducted an annual nationwide survey of energy dealers, with Marty spearheading the introduction of a propane-specific version of the survey.”
Marty’s work in helping his propane marketer clients also demonstrates his commitment to the future of the industry. “Marty is an advocate for the propane industry and for propane businesses,” the nomination said. “He is an advocate for using a company’s financial results as the platform for making data-enriched decisions on operations, marketing, purchasing, hedging, hiring, and mergers and acquisitions — all the way to personal financial management for propane business owners.”
A graduate of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Marty earned a master’s degree in accounting at Northeastern University. Joining Gray, Gray & Gray in 2008, Marty was mentored by Joe Ciccarello, the firm’s managing partner at the time, who also led the Energy Practice Group. “While I worked in several other industries, the home heating industry just clicked for me in terms of understanding it,” Marty says. “Top that off with the opportunity at 22 years old to attend industry events like trade shows and I fell in love with it.”
Marty enjoys the challenges and the opportunities that come with the complexity of propane and heating oil companies, along with the camaraderie that exists throughout the industry.
In terms of industry innovation, Marty believes it is “simply finding ways to do things better and more efficiently. When I first started out in accounting, I had a laptop and would schlepp a huge briefcase with a scanner, audit files and other large pieces of equipment to do my job. Now audits are almost entirely paperless, and I am able to work and service clients anywhere versus work being performed solely on-site.”
Marty acknowledges the propane industry is built on tradition, but also has never shied away from trying new things. He always encourages discovering better approaches. “The current generation of propane leaders excels in understanding and utilizing new technologies, enabling them to work more efficiently and achieve faster results,” Marty says. “By combining the wisdom and experience of seasoned professionals with the younger generation’s newer approaches, the industry on the whole stands to advance.”
While frequently working with companies individually, serving as an extension of their management teams, Marty is also delighted to hear and see the benefits the yearly Gray, Gray & Gray propane survey provides the industry. “The best and highest use of the survey data we generate is for a dealer to compare their own company’s numbers against the industry standards. It can really help identify strengths and areas for improvement.”
