Meet the Owner

Getting Into the Industry

In 1988, I was a musician who decided I wanted to sleep indoors. I took a job at Environmental Products and Services as a warehouseman and truck driver, delivering petroleum equipment across the region.

New underground storage tank regulations had just been adopted, and much of the equipment I was delivering wasn't familiar to the clients receiving it. I took the time to read all of the manuals and began creating mechanical drawings to help clients understand how everything went together. This extra effort led to a sales position, a haircut, and learning how to polish shoes and tie a tie.

Within a year, I was the top salesperson - doubling the other two salesmen's numbers combined.

Becoming an Industry Expert

I was offered a position as a manufacturers' representative for Ronan Leak Detection Systems. Ronan had invented the leak detection industry in California but didn't have an East Coast presence. I began calling on distributors and engineers from Virginia to Maine.

Ronan didn't pay labor on warranty calls, and since I felt that was wrong, I became their service tech - traveling anywhere there was an alarm. Most often, the alarms were due to containment systems not being watertight. This turned out to be incredibly educational, teaching me firsthand about the problems in fuel storage system design.

Mobil hired me to evaluate their facilities and make design change recommendations. This opened doors to represent other manufacturers including Environ, Western Fiberglass, CETCO, Pemco, Beta Tank, and Ecovault.

Building Product Knowledge

At Eastern States Associates, I represented major brands including FE Petro, Ameron, Xerxes, Fashion Canopies, and Whiteway, covering upstate New York. I spent most of my time traveling with factory engineers, calling on distributors, installers, and major oil company engineers. This is when I gained deep product knowledge that would later prove invaluable.

On the side, I started a software company selling quoting systems and product configurators. Using Visual Basic, these tools created quotes, specs, and drawings that proved extremely valuable for my clients and led to huge sales increases for the manufacturers I represented.

I won the Xerxes Rep of the Year award after they adopted my CAD drawings into their nationwide sales program and saw a 138% increase in sales - becoming the number one tank manufacturer in the country.

Starting SmartTank

The tools I'd designed were extremely valuable, but they weren't paying off for me personally. I realized the best way to capture more of their value was to build the fuel systems myself. In 1998, I started SmartTank.

Our SmartTank systems gained popularity immediately. We saw success right away and doubled our sales each year until we reached 35 employees operating from a 125,000 square foot facility in Syracuse, NY. We entered a partnership with a biodiesel process technology company and began investing in the new fuel that we had helped launch with Willie Nelson.

Challenges and Reinvention

In 2009, while executing an extremely large project, AIG went bankrupt - leaving us with a multi-million dollar bone pile. At the same time, the Department of State was six months late paying their bills. We went under.

But the phone kept ringing. We restarted operations with a new focus on smaller-scale, highly technical systems - particularly aviation fueling - through a joint venture with Environment and Fueling Systems.

In 2022, we went back on our own and opened a new fabrication facility in Syracuse, NY. Today, we continue to provide high-quality fuel systems to mostly repeat customers - a testament to the relationships we've built and the quality we deliver.

Career Timeline