Final Year For Four: Longtime state executives reflect on careers in propane industry

Tom Osina

Some people know from childhood what they want to be when they grow up. That isn’t Tom Osina’s story.

With an inquisitive spirit and thirst for fun, Osina has spent the last 40 years bringing joy and “something different” to the West Virginia propane industry.

He started his career as a high school English, speech and drama teacher, then applied his communications skills to management trainees for a large telephone company. But he’d been curious about life as a radio DJ, so he gave that a whirl, discovering the trick to getting a bathroom break while working solo behind the mic was to cue up Don McLean’s 8.5-minute “American Pie.”

Whatever glamor he might’ve perceived from the other side of the radio, Osina realized the work was a bit lonely.

“I found that a little tougher than I expected because you don’t have anyone to feed off of,” Osina recalls.

Eventually, though, the skills acquired along these paths converged when he landed a job as a regional administrator in the Washington, D.C., office for what was then the National LP-Gas Association, headquartered in Chicago. His role was to assist the vice president of government affairs and manage six state associations along the Atlantic Coast.

“I knew nothing about propane, basically,” Osina admits. “I had to learn about bobtails, deliveries, degree-days, things of that sort. We were just so excited that the latest technology was a degree-day system that worked on a computer.”

After the organization reorganized as the National Propane Gas Association (NPGA) and state associations had to fund their executive directors’ services, Osina was downsized out of a job. But he knew the need remained, so Osina offered his services as an independent contractor.

“I had always wanted to be my own boss, so I started my own association management company with two propane clients, Virginia and West Virginia propane gas associations,” he says.

Eventually he added Maryland, along with associations serving the library and traffic signal technology industries, always working remotely before the pandemic made it a thing.

Since 1994, Osina has provided the bones of a central organization to West Virginia’s propane industry, despite never living within the state. He has sought unique ways to bring people together, convinced that friendships within the industry make life more fun – and get the job done.

His first year, he introduced a biennial bobtail rodeo in which retailers send drivers to a three-part contest testing their knowledge of propane, complete with a graded pre-trip “inspection” before a Department of Transportation official and a driving obstacle course.

“It’s friendly – no one’s getting cited – but it’s a great learning experience,” Osina says.

Determined to make the most of members’ time together at conferences, Osina planned highlight-reel moments, such as the time the state director and NPGA president went to battle wearing inflatable sumo wrestling suits. Another time, aware that not everyone liked to golf, Osina arranged for bloody marys and an omelet-making contest with the resort chef. Still another event included two-person teams making appetizers and desserts for that evening’s banquet.

He’s proud that, in a traditionally male-dominated industry, West Virginia’s association has had strong authority by women, and shown itself to be rather egalitarian by welcoming suppliers into leadership.

“We had women on the board or women as directors as early as the mid-’80s,” he says. “Our first woman president was in 1992. Since that time, we’ve had five women be our state president, and our current state director is a woman.”

Long before the Propane Education & Research Council (PERC) was around for marketing assistance, Osina worked with the association to prepare a trifold brochure, listing all of its member retailers, which were placed at rest stops, campgrounds and RV parks.

But, as the industry has consolidated and memberships declined, his work has changed too. Where they once got 20 drivers for the rodeo, today it’s more like six or seven.

“For us, the dynamics have changed a great deal,” Osina says.

What hasn’t changed, though, and what he’ll miss most is the “family, collegial atmosphere.” Members became like family and cared to know how he and his family were doing.

Although his time as executive director ends Dec. 31, he plans to continue the propane industry benchmarking work he started in 1998.

At 69, though, it’s time for new adventures. In November 2020, Osina was elected to the Manassas (Virginia) City Council, and he wants to spend time with his family, which includes two children, three grandchildren and three Weimaraners. And, he says, the organization deserves a new executive director with fresh ideas and perspectives.

“I’m having a blast,” he says, “but I’m ready to enjoy some of the fruits of my labor along the way.”

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