2021 LP Gas Rising Leader: Will Fabrizio

Fabrizio

The essentials: Age 36; director of production and Northeast service for Paraco Gas in Rye Brook, New York

Years in the propane industry: 8

How did you get your start in the propane industry? In 2011, I made the decision to move from car sales into the technical field. I attended the Porter & Chester Institute for their HVAC program. I met with Paraco Gas during a career fair held at the school and joined their team, starting part time filling and evacuating cylinders at their plant. As opportunities arose within the company, I have had the opportunity to progress my career and take on additional challenges.

What is your vision for growing your company, and how can you help to achieve that vision? My vision is to continue to grow Paraco Gas’ service department by expanding our offerings, response time and customer service capabilities. I would like to help our service team become a turnkey service where customers know that they can reach out to us to manage their complete residential and commercial projects. I also continue to work with our area managers to expand our HVAC offerings to ensure that we can always say “yes” whenever our customers call.

How can the propane industry prosper in the coming years? The most important thing is to be open to new technologies as they become available. Many propane companies are hesitant to embrace new technology or stick only to propane-specific technologies. We need to look beyond our own sector and take advantage of technologies from neighboring sectors such as manufacturing.

Fabrizio installs a new piece of equipment in Paraco Gas’ Waterbury, Connecticut, refurbishing facility. Photo by Paraco employee

What does your generation offer to the propane industry that previous generations did not? The newest generation of leadership in the propane industry has an innate drive to collaborate with fellow industry professionals no matter the distance. Whether within our own company or the larger propane industry, knowledge sharing and decision-making has never been easier or quicker. We also have the tremendous benefit of building upon all the knowledge from previous generations, which will allow us to more effectively move the propane industry forward.

What specific technologies are you using (or plan to use) to support business operations? We are in the midst of a huge technology shift moving to Salesforce FSL and CPQ. The goal is to integrate our marketing, sales and service personnel into a single platform to give us the ability to track the complete lifecycle of our customers. It will streamline the customer experience and significantly reduce our internal handle time to bring a new customer on board and get their equipment installed.

What propane industry associations are you involved with at the state and/or national level? Propane Gas Association of New England, New York Propane Gas Association, Cylinder Exchange Council.

Is there anything else you’d like to tell us about yourself, your company and/or the propane industry? I am so thankful to the Armentano family for their continued trust in me and the opportunity to progress my career at Paraco Gas, my mentors at Paraco Gas for their personal and professional advice over the years, and my fellow leaders at the company who constantly strive to work together to put out the best service possible for our customers.