COHA
FON Interviews Stephen Koch
Under New Leadership, COHA will Enhance Alliances and Promote the Fuel
by KEITH REID
I
n June, the Board of Directors of the
Canadian Oil Heat Association changed
its leadership by appointing Stephen Koch
to replace Veronica Yu in March 2013. Fuel
Oil News interviews Koch for a run down
on the various oil heat issues in the path of the
organization as it moves forward under his leadership.
COHA was established in 1983 and has
grown into a national body boasting a membership of over four hundred oil heat professionals,
major oil companies, manufacturers, wholesalers, contractors, trainers and other professionals.
The organization serves as the industry's voice
to provincial and federal regulators and government decision makers on matters of policy,
safety and certification. As a national organization, COHA is comprised of provincial chapters
in Ontario, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince
Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador
focusing on provincial regulatory, training, and
promotion activities.
In addition to serving as COHA president,
Koch was also appointed executive director of
the organization's Ontario chapter in September.
FON: What was the COHA board looking
for when your were selected?
Koch: We've done some good things in the
past, but it has perhaps been a bit piecemeal and
we've not been able to bring it all together and
tell our story and go out there and really show
the positive nature of oil heat. The board obviously looked at this and made a decision that they
wanted to move in a different direction and they
wanted to be more engaging with partners and
governments and they wanted to be out there
and tell the story about all the positive things oil
heat can do. I guess that is why they hired me —
for my government affairs and my communica-
24
Stephen Koch, the new general manager of the Canadian Oil Heat Association addresses his members at the association's annual general meeting, held June 18-19 in Moncton, NB. Photo courtesy Andrew Snook, Mechanical
Business Magazine.
NOVEMBER 2013 | FUEL OIL NEWS | www.fueloilnews.com
