PERC adds staff in business development, safety departments

The Propane Education & Research Council (PERC) added three new staff members to its business development and safety teams, according to Tucker Perkins, president and CEO of PERC.

Gokul Vishwanathan joined the business development team.

He is a mechanical engineer in training and practice. In his new role, he leads PERC initiatives to grow propane demand through research, technology development and sustainability programs.

Prior to this role, he worked at Booz Allen Hamilton, where he supported the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) and the advanced manufacturing branch of the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) as a technical adviser and subject matter expert in connected and automated vehicles, powertrain development, combined heat and power, thermal energy storage and carbon capture technologies, according to PERC.

Before going to Booz Allen Hamilton, Vishwanathan was a technical specialist at Cummins, leading medium-duty and heavy-duty diesel engine development work and developing fuel and air-path calibration mechanisms for diesel engines.

Vishwanathan will work in the Washington, D.C., office. He lives in Maryland with his wife and son.

Matt McDonald joined the business development team and is responsible for supporting research and development and market outreach and training projects, with a focus on new product development and commercialization in the off-road market.

Before coming to PERC, McDonald worked at Ferrellgas Partners in Kansas City, Kansas, where he was general manager for more than five years. He increased revenue by 15.5 percent over previous years and generated more than $6 million, according to PERC.

In addition, McDonald created targeted marketing programs for Ferrellgas in a three-state area.

Before his time with Ferrellgas, McDonald worked for ADT Security Services in Kansas City, Missouri, for seven years – first as operations manager and then as district sales manager.

At ADT, he supervised the strategy, training, team structure and communication of the regional sales program, and tracked and analyzed weekly sales and regional market trends to find new growth opportunities.

McDonald served in the U.S. Navy for four years and spent four years in the Navy Reserve. He was awarded two U.S. Navy and Marine Corps achievement medals.

He will work from his home in Kansas City, Missouri, where he lives with his wife and children.

Garrett Johnson joined the PERC staff to provide support for the safety, education and compliance team and assist with Learning Center help desk calls.

Before coming to PERC, Johnson was executive assistant to the lead attorney at a law firm in Silver Spring, Maryland.

In addition to his administrative duties, he supported the firm’s work in legal compliance and business development, tracked quality-control measures on cases for review by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the State Department and handled client invoicing and firm expenses.

Johnson works in the Washington, D.C., office.

“The addition of Gokul Vishwanathan, Matt McDonald and Garrett Johnson to our team will make us stronger across the board in two key areas: growing uses and users of propane and improving our delivery of workforce training and consumer safety programs,” Perkins says.

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