Meet the LP Gas Hall of Fame Class of 2026

A commitment to service in the face of unprecedented challenges, especially those related to the COVID-19 pandemic, defines the 2026 class of inductees to the LP Gas Hall of Fame.

Each of the new inductees provided leadership for their companies and the propane industry as the world grappled with tremendous uncertainty.

Joe Armentano of Paraco Gas, Bob Barry of Bergquist Inc., Denis Gagne of Eastern Propane & Oil and Brian Sheehan of Rural Computer Consultants comprise the 13th class of inductees. LP Gas will honor them on April 18, 2026, during an induction dinner and ceremony that precedes the National Propane Gas Association’s (NPGA) Southeastern & International Propane Expo in Nashville, Tennessee. Visit lpgashalloffame.com for more information.

An anonymous selection committee composed of past and present industry leaders and LP Gas staff chose the inductees from nominations submitted by industry peers.

▶ Joe Armentano – Paraco Gas

You could trace the history of the propane industry through the career of Joe Armentano.

Graduating from Fordham University in 1976, Armentano operated a small industrial gas business in Mount Vernon, New York, founded by his father, Pat Armentano. In 1979, Paraco, making its first acquisition, evolved into one of the most recognizable retailers in the propane industry under Joe’s leadership. Throughout five decades, he built the company, forging a commitment to professional management, community service and the propane industry.

Today, Paraco is the largest independent propane retailer in the Northeast, with more than 500 employees across 28 locations. The company has acquired more than 60 businesses and now serves over 110,000 customers.

Joe’s commitment to the propane industry runs deep. He served as president of the New York Propane Gas Association, a member of the NPGA board and chairman of the Propane Education & Research Council (PERC), championing investment in research, development and product commercialization.

Joe has a history of philanthropy, serving on many not-for-profit boards. He is proud of his third-generation family business and the balance in his life, which he attributes to making him both a better person and a better businessman.

▶ Bob Barry – Bergquist Inc.

Bob Barry joined Bergquist Inc. as a numbers man, but his commitment to strengthening the propane industry has earned him deep respect.

A certified public accountant, Barry joined Bergquist, a wholesale distributor of propane equipment, as controller in 1986. Nine years later, he became president and CEO, guiding the company’s transformation from a single-location operation with seven employees into a national independent distributor with five locations and 63 employees.

Barry dedicated five years as an NPGA officer, culminating as chair in 2021. He advocated for propane workers as the industry navigated unprecedented pandemic-related challenges.

Barry also spent six years with PERC, channeling his efforts into the research and technology working group. For more than two decades, he has served on the NPGA Audit Committee, including 15 years as chair. He helped guide the industry through record federal funding under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the joint NPGA-PERC task force that produced the Energy for Everyone campaign and a renewed national awareness of the benefits of conventional propane.

▶ Denis Gagne – Eastern Propane & Oil

Growing up in the propane industry gave Denis Gagne an appreciation for its layers of complexity. But for Gagne, it always boiled down to one thing: service.

He worked alongside his father at a small family business in Methuen, Massachusetts, that became part of Eastern Propane in 1976. That’s when Gagne also joined Eastern, and he applied his accounting degree and MBA to ensure the growth in business development, operations and development of that company’s supply chain and logistics until he retired in 2021.

Gagne served on the Propane Gas Association of New England board of directors and helped it grow from a part-time association to a strong regional association. He extended his focus to the NPGA, serving on the supply and transportation committee, chairing the regulatory task force within the government affairs committee. He also served on the technology, safety and standards committee, which he chaired from 2013-15. Gagne rose to NPGA chairman in 2020-21, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, shepherding the national industry despite travel restrictions.

His involvement helped NPGA transition from a primarily technical group to a forward-thinking advocacy organization involved in consumer education, legislative affairs and industry development.

▶ Brian Sheehan – Rural Computer Consultants

From a makeshift desk in his father’s rural Minnesota propane business to the world stage, Brian Sheehan has dedicated his life to bringing efficiency, stability and a whole lot of joy to everyone he meets.

Sheehan, founder and retiring president of Rural Computer Consultants (RCC), never finished college. But in the late 1970s and early ’80s, he and his brother Kevin began writing software that transformed the accounting and productivity of independent propane retailers like their father, who founded Sheehan’s Gas in 1952. Their early innovations laid the groundwork for an industry-specific platform that continues to evolve nearly five decades later.

Today, RCC employs more than 75 people and provides software, hardware and support to clients in all 50 states as well as other countries. From the beginning, Sheehan insisted on developing tools that were intuitive, service-focused and tailored to the unique needs of propane retailers of every size.

Service has defined his life beyond the office as well. Following his father into the Bird Island Lions Club in 1991, Sheehan has held dozens of leadership roles, including international president of Lions Clubs International, the 1.4-million-member humanitarian organization. As 2023 chairman of the Lions Clubs International Foundation, he traveled the globe to help deliver medical aid and relief to communities devastated by natural disasters and war.