This past week, APGA held its 2021 Annual Conference in Santa Ana Pueblo, N.M. This was APGA’s first in-person conference in over a year and it was very well attended.
The event began on Sunday July 25 with a golf tournament in the morning and a reception in the evening. The conference itself kicked off on the morning of Monday July 26 with an update from APGA Chairman John Leary, who is from Borough of Chambersburg in Pennsylvania. John discussed his theme for the year “Using our Voice” and the accomplishments over the past year. David Atwood from Exxon Mobil then gave a presentation on natural gas supply and demand. After a break for attendees to meet with the conference exhibitors, there were award presentations for the Gild of Ancient Supplers and APGA’s System Operational Achievement Recognition (SOAR). Finally, professional speaker and author Erick Rheam gave a motivational talk to the audience about encouragement and being an encourager.
The second day of the conference, Tuesday July 27, began with a welcome by APGA then-Second Vice Chair John Olshefski from Huntsville Utilities in Alabama. Christine Tezak from Clearview Energy Partners then gave an overview of the Biden Administration’s energy policies for the audience. APGA gives out several awards annually and at this point in the conference is when they were distributed. The awards given out were the Public Gas System Achievement Award, Personal Achievement Award, Harry M. Cooke Personal Service Award, Safety Management Excellence Award, Marketing & Sales Award, and Research Foundation Distinguished Service Award. After another break with the conference exhibitors, attendees then heard a presentation from Stephen Yurek from the Air Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration Institute on electrification and the role of the direct use of natural gas. The conference concluded for the day with a motivational talk from Merril Hoge, who is a retired NFL running back as well as an author. Merril’s talk on finding a way was very well received. The conference attendees then split off into breakout groups for operations & safety, government relations, and past chairmen.
APGA’s Board of Directors met that afternoon for their summer meeting. The day ended with the annual Chairman’s reception, dinner and entertainment.
The week’s events came to a close on Wednesday July 28 with a report from APGA President and CEO Dave Schryver followed by APGA’s Annual Meeting.
APGA would like to thank all of its attendees, exhibitors, sponsors and presenters for making this year’s Annual Conference a success.