Pat Hyland’s propane industry career spans 2 chapters

A straight-talking, straight-shooting guy. That’s Pat Hyland.

Hyland

And it’s how Roy Willis, the former president and CEO of the Propane Education & Research Council (PERC), described the man whom he hired more than a decade ago to fill an important role with the council.

But let’s back up.

Ironically, it was that “straight shooter” quality that permeates throughout the propane industry that first attracted Pat to this industry and then kept him in it for 27 years.

“One of the things that jumped out right away was these people are very straightforward – very much what you see is what you get with them,” Pat told me during a COVID-era conversation we recorded for the Virtual Propane Expo, as he retraced his career steps that led into propane.

“There are very few ivory towers in this industry, which really appeals to me.”

Pat continued of propane people: “They say what they mean; they mean what they say, and I try to be the same way with them. That’s important and something that energizes me.”

Even without the towers, Pat stood tall in this industry for nearly three decades. But this month, he says goodbye to his propane industry family and friends as he takes those next steps into retirement.

Wealth of knowledge

We use the term “institutional knowledge” to describe the rich resources that industry veterans and leaders provide to everyone around them. We recognize the importance of an industry having that knowledge and the impact when we lose it.

With Pat’s retirement, we’ll lose a wealth of knowledge. We’ll lose someone who understands the propane industry thoroughly and can explain it in detail.

“There are a couple times when you look around the room in a PERC meeting, and there weren’t that many people who really understood the heartbeat of the industry. Pat Hyland was just one of those guys,” Tucker Perkins, president and CEO of PERC, announced publicly during the council’s July meeting in Boston. “It’s with a great deal of sadness that we see him leave PERC.”

The imprint Pat made at PERC only adds to a propane industry career that had already found success through his 15 years as the editor of LP Gas. Pat, the old-school journalist who first built a career in the newspaper industry, wrote important articles for thousands of propane industry readers, never pulling a punch to get a message across. He was honest and genuine in his approach, his work always driven by what he felt was best for the industry.

“I’ll always be a journalist at heart,” Pat said during the video interview. “That’s what I’m trained to do. I’m probably a journalist trying to fit into a non-journalist role,” in referencing his role with PERC, which he covered since its formation in 1996.

“Pat was always so easy to talk to,” Willis recalls of his interviews with Pat the editor and reporter. “He asked really good questions; he would make you think.”

Moving to PERC

Pat left such an impression on Willis that PERC’s first president asked him to join the council in 2012. Willis sought a communications specialist who could ensure PERC programs reached the industry and solicit feedback.

Pat traveled the country serving as that liaison between the industry and PERC, meeting propane professionals face to face, listening and keeping the conversation alive – admirable qualities that define Pat the journalist, communicator and person.

Willis called Pat a perfect teammate who filled a needed role.

“He’s definitely emblematic of the best in our industry,” says Willis, adding, “It’s a testament to him that he had such a long career in the industry.”

Read our Q&A with Pat. I know you’ll miss him. We certainly will.