AmeriGas vice president relates leadership lessons

Paige O’Dell talked about her experiences leading operations for AmeriGas’ central region. (Photo by Ellen Kriz)

Paige O’Dell, vice president of operations for AmeriGas Propane’s central region, described how she rose through the company ranks and explained her leadership approach to the Women in Propane roundtable at the 2019 National Propane Gas Association Propane Expo.

O’Dell argued that women bring different perspectives to work, resulting in a number of benefits to employers, including better customer service, higher productivity, greater profitability and less turnover. All young women should “grow up thinking they can accomplish anything,” she noted.

O’Dell started her career at Amerigas as a customer relations representative. Faced with divorce and the challenges of single motherhood, she committed herself to learning as much as she could about the propane industry and AmeriGas. O’Dell explained each time she faced an obstacle at work, she would “pause and find the lesson.”

She carried those lessons, and the leadership style she formed, to her current position. O’Dell emphasized that operations and sales departments should build close relationships based on strong communication and teamwork. An effective team shows “trust, respect, and it has to be a family,” she said.

In her operations role at AmeriGas, O’Dell directs sales, growth, productivity and safe operations in the midwest and southwest portions of the country. O’Dell also was elected to serve as the chair of the Women in LPG Global Network in 2017.