Oil Prophets

Winter 2015

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8 Oil Prophets Recently I had the honor to be in Washington, DC, to celebrate the swearing in of Alabama's newest member of Congress, Congressman Gary Palmer AL-06, who replaced the retiring Congressman Spencer Bachus. As many of you know, Gary and his family are personal friends of my family. He is a great person and will be a great advocate for the Birmingham area. Don't be surprised to see Gary's name a lot over the next several years. I truly believe he will become one of the "up and comers" in the United States House of Representatives. While in Washington, I had lunch with Mr. Dan Gilligan, President of the Petroleum Marketers Association of America. Dan has been at PMAA for 17 years and recently announced his retirement which will occur in 2015. While talking with Dan it struck me that many of you may not be familiar with PMAA; and the fact that by virtue of being a member of P&CMA you are automatically a member of PMAA, I wanted to take this opportunity to provide you with some background. PMAA is what those of us in the association world call a "federation." In basic terms this means that the members of PMAA are actually the individual state associations. By virtue of being a member of a state petroleum marketers association you are automatically a member of PMAA. A portion of the dues you send to us we then pay to PMAA on your behalf. In contrast, the National Association RI&RQYHQLHQFH6WRUHV1$&6DQG the Society of Independent Gasoline 0DUNHWHUV$VVRFLDWLRQ6,*0$DUH "direct member" organizations. If you want to be a member you send them a check for dues. Collectively, the 48 PMAA member associations (the state associations DFURVVWKHFRXQWU\UHSUHVHQW independent petroleum marketing companies. PMAA marketers own 60,000 retail fuel outlets, supply motor fuels to 40,000 independently RZQHGGHDOHUUHWDLORXWOHWVDQG heating oil to seven million homes and businesses. Like P&CMA members, the majority of PMAA marketers are small businesses serving individual retail customers, farms, business and industry. The origins of PMAA date back to 1909 when the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of the United States was formed. That group died out, but in 1940 another national organization, the President's Council of Petroleum Marketers Association, was formed. In 1948, that group became the National Oil Jobbers Council. In 1984, PMAA changed its name to the Petroleum Marketers Association of America. When Dan Gilligan joined PMAA in the late 1990's, PMAA was struggling. In fact, Alabama, Georgia, Texas and a handful of other states had actually GURSSHGRXWRI30$$UHÀHFWLQJRXU dissatisfaction with the direction of the national organization. Bringing the group back under control was a monumental task, but Dan got the group back on the right track. Today PMAA represents petroleum marketers in every state and has every state association across the country as a participating member (You may have noticed earlier I said "48" member associations. Some states with lower populations join IRUFHVLQRQHDVVRFLDWLRQ PMAA is the only national organization totally committed to "petroleum marketers" and their issues. PMAA's committees and board of directors are PDGHXSSULPDULO\RIPDUNHWHUMREEHU representatives. PMAA's leadership consists of marketers, (Alabama was honored to have Mr. Tom Jones of Montgomery serve as President of the PRESIDENT'S PERSPECTIVE PMAA - Watching out for our Interests J. Bart Fletcher, CAE P&CMA President

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