PERC announces inaugural Propane Leadership Award recipients

The Propane Education & Research Council (PERC) announced its inaugural Propane Leadership Award recipients at GIE+EXPO. Mike Halloran, owner of Halloran Power Equipment and MowerWorks in Chicago, and Jeff Sebert, owner of Sebert Landscaping in Chicago, are the first-ever recipients of the award.

“The Propane Leadership Award is designed to recognize those in the commercial landscape industry who are not only using propane equipment to better their own business profiles, but who have become propane advocates to their peers as well,” said Jeremy Wishart, deputy director of business development for PERC. “Both Mike Halloran and Jeff Sebert are shining examples of business owners who did their homework and understood the positive impact propane equipment could have on their businesses, both financially and environmentally. Now, they are reaping the rewards of propane while differentiating themselves from the local competition at the same time.”

Halloran and Sebert each received a personalized Louisville Slugger baseball bat to commemorate the award.

For Sebert, considering propane mowers was part of his company’s aim to be greener. He was attracted to the reduced emissions profile propane mowers offered compared to machines fueled by gasoline or diesel fuel. The company began purchasing propane mowers in 2011, and since 2012 Sebert has exclusively purchased propane machines. Currently, the company operates 165 propane mowers, which totals 60 percent of its mower fleet.

The benefits of a clean fuel were a driver for Mike Halloran, too, to add propane equipment to his sales floor almost a decade ago. He saw a growing demand for green practices and an opportunity to differentiate his business, as well as his customers’ business, from companies using traditional fuels. Halloran finds success selling propane equipment when he explains to contractors the long-term financial advantages of propane, in addition to the opportunities to bring down the initial equipment cost through the use of PERC’s Propane Mower Incentive Program.