Ricker Oil chief leads think tank at a time when alternative fuels and vehicles are at the forefront.
Jay Ricker, chairman of Anderson, Ind.-based Ricker Oil Co. was elected chairman of the Fuels Institute during the recent Fuels Institute’s Annual Meeting and Fuels Summit.
Andy Viens, president of global marketing for Phillips 66 Co. in Houston, Texas, was elected treasurer and Fuels Institute executive director John Eichberger was re-elected secretary.
Ricker succeeds Bill Douglass, managing partner of Douglass Distributing Co.
The Fuels Institute, founded by the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) in 2013, is a non-profit research-oriented think tank dedicated to evaluating market issues related to vehicles and the fuels that power them. Since its founding in early 2013, it has commissioned and published feasibility studies related to several alternative fuels and examined the vehicle market and consumers perceptions of key fuels and vehicle types.
The Fuels Institute’s governing structure incorporates a diverse set of stakeholders including, but not limited to, fuel retailers, fuel producers and refiners, alternative and renewable fuel producers, automobile manufacturers, environmental advocates, consumer organizations, academics, government entities and others with expertise in the fuels and automotive industries.
Ricker founded Ricker Oil Co. with his wife, Nancy, as a fuel distributor in the 1970s. In 1989, they opened their first Ricker’s convenience store. Today, the company operates 50 convenience retail locations in Indiana, most under the Ricker’s name, as well as a petroleum distributorship and other enterprises. A member of the NACS Board of Directors from 2000 to 2012, Ricker was 2010 NACS Chairman of the Board.
Ricker is also past chair of the BP Amoco Marketers Association, past president of the Indiana Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Store Association and a past member of the Marathon Jobber Advisory Council.