The 2016 Annual Managers Meeting, held in the Kansas City Power and Light District on August 24-25, encouraged attendees to “Switch It On” to take advantage of the “Power of People.”
MFA Oil bulk and propane managers, operations managers, district managers and business development personnel participated in a variety of breakout sessions aimed at energizing sales and efficiency while shining a light on important safety topics.
The first round of presentations highlighted compliance training, Department of Transportation requirements and regulations and the role operations managers play in the company. The second round of breakout sessions included pointers from the human resources department on how to complete performance reviews using the new Taleo Perform platform, an update on the company’s progress with tank monitor installation and a review of the business development team’s plans and activities.
The meeting’s general session focused on one of the company’s core principles – safety, with a review of an automobile accident involving an MFA Oil Biomass driver and the lessons that could be learned from the incident. Mark Fenner, president and CEO, implored employees to make safety a top priority and take the steps necessary to prevent future accidents.
Fenner then provided a quick review of the company’s performance to-date in fiscal year 2016 before introducing keynote speaker, Gary Pinkel, former head football coach of the University of Missouri.
While detailing the lessons learned throughout his 39-year coaching career, Pinkel emphasized the importance of laying a solid organizational foundation. “It’s all about people and creating an environment of success,” Pinkel said. “We created a process that we followed meticulously to achieve our goals. That’s what it takes to build excellence in your company.”
Pinkel shared a list of 15 ideas for building a winning team that included takeaways such as demanding positive attitudes, instilling a culture of accountability and the significance of organizational loyalty.
“To build and sustain success at the highest level, it takes an entire team on the same page,” Pinkel said. “We always stressed the importance of the team mentality and putting team needs first before individual desires.”
Top Performers Recognized
The top plant managers in terms of total net income and the largest percent increase in net income were announced by Jon Ihler, vice president of sales and marketing. Awards were also presented to the business development sales person with the most new customers and the top two district managers by overall net income.
The 2017 incentive competition began on July 1, 2016 and will run through June 30, 2017. The winners will be determined by the top five managers by total net income and the top eight managers by percent increase in net income over the previous year. Operations managers, service managers and business development will also be involved in the competition.
Top Managers Ranked by Total Net Income
1. $1,926,707 Denis Dreiling (Southwest District)
2. $1,752,375 Fred Trowbridge (East Central District)
3. $1,630,383 Marty Mills (East Central District)
4. $1,539,473 Carla Mathes (West Central District)
5. $1,448,416 Donnie Rouse (Northeast District)
Top Managers Ranked by Percent Increase in Net Income
1. 192.57% Jerry Lincoln (Northeast District)
2. 183.44% Al Olivent (Ohio Valley District)
3. 60.35% Mike Moulton (North Central District)
4. 24.66% Mike McGhee (Northeast District)
5. 21.71% Trevor Honeycutt (Southeast District)
6. 20.57% Keith Hockings (Mid South District)
7. 16.87% Dan Smith (North Central District)
8. 14.75% Mark Hailey (Northwest District)
9. 11.09% Steve Jones (Northeast District)
10. 6.60% David Shriver (North Central District)
Top Salesman – Most New Customers
74 Ron McCreless (Mid South District)
Top Two Districts
1. $8,047,569 Barry Oden (Northeast Central District)
2. $7,342,970 Michael Whitney (Northwest District)