Propane Personality: AmeriGas’ Michelle Bimson Maggi

Michelle Bimson Maggi

EDUCATION

University of Maryland
Bachelor of Arts in Government 
and Politics
Class of 1999

Widener University School of Law (Delaware)
Juris Doctor
Class of 2003

INDUSTRY WORK EXPERIENCE

November 2019-Present

AmeriGas
⦁ Vice President – Law
February 2007-Present

UGI Corp.
⦁ Attorney

The early years

Bimson Maggi grew up in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, 20 miles outside Washington, D.C. “My father was a newspaper printer at The Washington Post [while] I was growing up. … My dad worked at night. I would wake up with a newspaper at my place at the table, with my cereal bowl. Newspapers were really important in our house.” Even today, Bimson Maggi says, grabbing a newspaper is a perk of her travels.

Photo: Douglas Rissing/iStock / Getty Images Plus/Getty Images

A product of her environment

Growing up near Washington, D.C., impacted Bimson Maggi’s life. She remembers many school field trips to the nation’s capital, and it’s “one of the reasons why I went into government and politics. It was in my backyard,” she says. Bimson Maggi saw two types of people in Washington, D.C. “Either you’re a chief of staff for somebody political or you’re a lawyer. I’m not somebody’s chief of staff, so the next best thing was to go to law school. I had every intention of moving back to D.C. and probably doing some lobbying.”

Joining UGI and AmeriGas

Early on, Bimson Maggi was told she had a knack for litigating. She followed that advice and became a litigation associate for several years, “working crazy lawyer hours.” “When you do more, you learn more and you stretch your skill set a little bit more,” she says. UGI Corp. sought a lawyer to handle regulatory matters, and AmeriGas, a UGI subsidiary, sought a litigator. “I said, ‘Wow, that’s perfect.’” Today, she devotes most of her time to AmeriGas. A member of the AmeriGas executive management team, she leads the law department’s lawyers and professionals. Bimson Maggi says there is no typical day. “From a legal standpoint, what can we do to help aid the business? How can we partner with the business to evaluate risk so the business leaders can make decisions?”

Missing a mentor

Lugar

Bimson Maggi worked closely with David Lugar, vice president of supply, logistics and wholesale at AmeriGas, who died in 2016. During the polar vortex winter of 2013-14, the two talked several times a day. “It was an exciting time for me to see how passionate individuals can work in a very stressful environment, with NPGA, the state associations and PERC, and really all come together to do the No. 1 thing, which is delivering gas to our customers.” It’s a bittersweet feeling for Bimson Maggi now. “I want to pick up the phone and say, ‘David, how do we handle that?’”

NPGA officer

Bimson Maggi was sworn in last year as treasurer of the National Propane Gas Association (NPGA), and she’ll eventually ascend to chairwoman of the NPGA board of directors. Bimson Maggi is also a founding member of AmeriGas’ Women’s Impact Network, which aims to develop and promote women at the company. “I hope more women step up because they see they can do it,” she says. “This is a partnership with men and women. Promoting diversity requires a partnership.”

No. 1 characteristic Bimson Maggi seeks in a job candidate: curiosity. “If they are curious, they are going to be an outstanding employee,” she says.

Hobbies

Bimson Maggi lives on a small farm in Pennsylvania with her husband and two young daughters. She loves to ride horses (the family has four), and is also a “voracious” reader.

*Featured image courtesy of Ed Richesson