Editor’s note: New and Improved

Welcome to the inaugural issue of our new and improved version of LP Gas magazine.

The redesign was launched to do more than just freshen up the presentation of the industry’s leading source of news, analysis and commentary. It is intended to enhance and expand what our readers tell us they value in each issue.

Beginning this month, we are repackaging some of our most popular pages together in a section called VitalSigns. These pages provide a succinct presentation of just what the name suggests – the latest heating degree days, propane MLP stock performances and timely news items.

We are introducing a new page of assorted industry data – kind of a propane industry by the numbers. DataPoints will enable readers to quickly stay abreast of the latest industry research findings, LPG consumption data, public survey findings, comparative energy prices and trends, and the sales patterns of all kinds of crucial propane equipment (cars and trucks, forklifts, room heaters, fireplaces, hot water heaters, bug zappers, furnaces, grills, patio heaters, storage tanks, bobtails, etc.). We hope the industry finds this information to be a vital tool to monitor its progress in primary and secondary markets that impact the health of our industry.

New to the lineup is a monthly profile of propane marketers who are the backbone of our industry. We call this feature SnapShot. Here you will get to meet some of the folks responsible for hooking a hose to the tanks of millions of Americans who count on propane to heat their homes, cook their meals and provide a healthy, productive lifestyle in communities across America.

Beginning in the new year, we also will be adding a columnist to help propane marketers improve their company’s marketing efforts.

Please let me know your impressions about these changes – and any other thoughts about our performance. Our goal remains to be the propane industry’s premier information source; please let me know how we are doing.

Welcome, Tom Jaenicke

I am also delighted to welcome Tom Jaenicke as the newest member of the magazine’s Editorial Advisory Board.

Tom joins a team of diverse industry professionals whose guidance and insight ensure that this magazine lives up to its commitment to be the industry’s most trusted information source. They help generate story ideas and lend a critical eye in evaluating the finished product each month.

Tom has extensive leadership experience in the operations, marketing, and sales areas of the domestic and international retail propane industry. Having gone from the inside of a bobtail to the inside of a boardroom over his 38 years in the industry, Tom has worked in the field for an independent marketer and in various management positions with multi-state marketers. He was vice president of sales and marketing for Ferrellgas before starting his own consulting business in 2005.

Tom also brings an extensive knowledge of the retail and wholesale appliance business. He was the founder and president of a leading appliance distribution company in the Midwest that specializes in gas heating equipment, hearth products and gas grills.