INDIANAPOLIS — CountryMark recently honored five energy professionals for outstanding performance and leadership during the annual CountryMark Awards Banquet hosted in Indianapolis on Saturday, November 18.

“The CountryMark Distinguished Achievement Awards recognize the top performers within the CountryMark cooperative system,” said Matt Smorch, CountryMark Vice President of Supply and Marketing. “These dedicated individuals exhibit excellence and professionalism in their daily work within the cooperative system, but also to the communities they live in and serve throughout the year.”

Award recipients were nominated by their member cooperative and were evaluated against a set of desirable criteria and traits. The criterion included, but was not limited to: professionalism, superior customer relations, leadership characteristics and the implementation of innovative ideas. The 2017 CountryMark Achievement Award winners included:

Energy Support Representative of the Year

Paula Fry – Co-Alliance

Energy Sales Representative of the Year Winners

Brent Stang – Harvest Land Co-op

Gary Austin – Ceres Solutions

Energy Sales Specialist of the Year

Mark Burch – Ceres Solutions

Energy Department Manager of the Year

Mike Riggins – White River Co-op

Additional recognition was given to CountryMark’s 13 member cooperative energy teams for their outstanding sales accomplishments this past year. Special awards were presented to Ceres Solutions, North Central Co-op and Co-Alliance for achieving the highest overall liquid fuel sales volume. Ceres Solutions, North Central Co-op and Harvest Land Co-op were also recognized for their overall lubricant sales volume and North Central Co-op was awarded for highest percentage increases in lubricant sales. In addition, Superior Ag was awarded for achieving the highest percent increase in fuel sales in the past twelve months.