Seven women were honored as Oilheat Legends on September 14 at a dinner during the HEAT show at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut :

The honorees , from left : Allison Heaney , President , Skaggs-Walsh ( NYSEC ); Sandra Farrell , Co-owner , Northboro Oil ( Massachusetts EMA ); Kelley Tully , President , C & H Transportation ( VFDA ), and Vice President , Cota & Cota ; Joyce Porto , President , Inland Fuel Terminals ( CEMA ); Pam Giordano , Consultant , Cetane Associates , and Interim GM , Dodge Energy ( EMANH ); Roberta Fagan , Logistics Assistant , Newport Biodiesel ( EMARI ); Susan Ware Page , President , Maritime Energy ( Maine EMA ). Photo by David Heiser / PriMedia

Allison Heaney , President , Skaggs-Walsh / NYSEC Heaney “ truly grew up in the heating fuel business ,” the event program notes , helping , at age five , to wash trucks at Skaggs-Walsh , the Queens , N . Y ., company then run by her father , Peter Heaney . A previous chair of what was then the New York Oil Heating Association and also a former chair of the National Oilheat Research Alliance , she is currently on the board of NEFI . Her daughter Elizabeth recently joined the family business .

Sandra Farrell , Co-owner , Northboro Oil / Massachusetts EMA “ I believe that you need to advocate and participate ,” said Sandra Farrell , Co-owner , Northboro Oil , the first person to be twicehonored as a Legend . In 2007 she became the first woman to chair a Northeast state heating oil association ( then the Massachusetts Oilheat Council ).

About industry participation and leadership by women , Farrell said , “ For many years I felt like I was the only woman in this business ,” but upon reflection , she said , she realized that women have been critical to many fuel marketing companies for many years , many doing double duty . She recalled the initial four years after her parents launched their business . “ My mother had three children , the office was in our home , the phone rang non-stop .”

Kelley Tully , President , C & H Transportation ( VFDA ); Vice President , Cota & Cota Shortly after the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic Vermont Gov . Phil Scott appointed Kelley Tully to fill a vacant district seat , adding yet another role on top of her business duties . Along with Cota & Cota President Casey Cota and NEFI President Sean Cota , she represents the third generation of family business leaders at the company in Bellow Falls , Vermont .

Joyce Porto , President , Inland Fuel Terminals / CEMA Joyce Porto “ worked her way up to become the first woman president of a Santa Energy division ” being promoted to the position at Inland Fuel Terminals in 2010 . Inland has grown into a multistate operation with a 42-million-gallon terminal in Tiverton , R . I ., and a propane rail terminal in Terryville , Connecticut . Calling her “ a bright beacon of dedication and accomplishment ,”, the event program adds , “ ever modest , she avoids attention and shuns spotlights , but to those who see and know her , she is an incomparable role model of success .”

Pam Giordano , Consultant , Cetane Associates , and Interim GM , Dodge Energy / EMANH Pam Giordano began her career in the heating fuels industry in accounts payable with Rymes Oil & Propane ; after a few years away from the industry to be with her children , she returned to M . L . Hall Oil Service in Manchester , eventually becoming office manager and then director of operations , later taking on her current roles with Dodge Energy and Cetane Associates .

In 2016 she became the first chairwoman of what was then the Oil Heat Council of New Hampshire .

Roberta Fagan , Logistics Assistant , Newport Biodiesel ( EMARI ) In the demanding winter of 2017-2018 , Roberta Fagan , as executive director of what was then the Oil Heat Institute of Rhode Island , helped out still had her CDL , and she helped make deliveries for a member company whose drivers were stretched to the max . She also oversaw the organization ’ s rebranding , and played a key role in advancing legislation to raise her state ’ s biofuel blending standards .

Susan Ware Page , President , Maritime Energy / Maine EMA Under the leadership of Susan Ware Page , Maritime Energy and Maritime Farms have experience 97 % job growth , adding 100 employees over the past 20 years . Her leadership and teamwork skills stem from a stellar collegiate athletic career : she led the University of Southern Maine women ’ s basketball team to the NCAA Division III final in 1998 . l FON

14 OCTOBER 2021 | FUEL OIL NEWS | www . fueloilnews . com