Bringing The Andersons Onboard

We’ve all heard the expression about what familiarity breeds. In the case of Jim Pirolli and The Andersons, however, familiarity bred participation.

The Andersons is one of the newest Growth Energy members and Pirolli, president of The Andersons Ethanol Group, now sits on the Growth Energy Board of Directors. For Pirolli, the relationship began in 2014 when he became the vice president of fuels for Kum & Go.

“After working for ADM for 13 years, I took the position with Kum & Go, building their fuel business with a big emphasis on renewables,” he said. “That’s where I made the initial connection with some of the folks at Prime the Pump and Growth Energy.”

Pirolli brought that connection with him when he came to The Andersons in 2017, a move that was actually facilitated in part by his wife, Sarah.

“I’d known of The Andersons for quite a while from my ADM and Kum & Go days,” he related. “Interestingly, my wife was in charge of DDG sales for Flint Hills. Through an initiative to market one of the ethanol co-products, she met some people from The Andersons. I was also doing ethanol business with them. One thing led to another and we both came to work for them. She is now vice president and general manager of liquid specialty fertilizer and ag supply chain.”

Ethanol is an earthfriendly biofuel that can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 86 percent — and this percentage continues to increase with ongoing innovations in advanced biofuels.

Growth and diversification

Harold Anderson launched what is now The Andersons, Inc. as a family partnership in 1947. That year, they built an export grain terminal in Maumee, Ohio to ship grain from Ohio, Michigan, and the Midwest to distant markets via the Great Lakes. Over the next 70-plus years, The Andersons grew into a diversified ag supply chain company with four business groups — Ethanol, Trade, Plant Nutrient, and Rail — and facilities in 25 states.

“One of the primary reasons Sarah and I came to work here was The Andersons’ Statement of Principles and how they lived those principles,” Pirolli stated. “Their values of safety, service, ownership, innovation, and customer focus are things that are also important to me. I saw an opportunity to come to a company I believe is a leader in all the fields in which they participate.”

Pirolli heads up an ethanol group with five production facilities across Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, and Ohio. The newest, ELEMENT, LLC in Colwich, Kansas, is the most advanced dry milling complex in the world. His interest in renewable fuels is both professional and personal.

“Sarah grew up on a farm in northwest Iowa, and our family heads to the farm in the spring and fall to help out,” he said. “We are connected to agriculture and feel strongly about sustainable practices and the importance of renewable energy.”

A part to play

Pirolli believes that himself as a voice on the board and The Andersons as a Growth Energy member both bring unique strengths to the organization and the industry.

“I view Growth Energy as a progressive organization focused on some of the most relevant issues in the industry,” Pirolli explained, “such as growing both domestic and international ethanol demand, with an emphasis on getting E15 across the finish line. They have shown the ability to align some of the largest and most forward-thinking forces in the biofuel industry.

“A strength of The Andersons over the years has been the ability to not only add value to the supply chain, but to bring additional investors and business partners into the process,” he continued. “For example, Marathon Petroleum Corporation is our ownership partner in four of our ethanol plants.

We buy the corn, operate the facility, and merchandise all the finished goods. Marathon is an equity partner who participates in our risk management decisions and benefits from their equity ownership in the plants. In much the same way, we’ve partnered with ICM at the ELEMENT facility.

“The point is, we’ve enjoyed great success because of collaborative relationships. We’re used to doing that,” he summarized. “I believe we’re in a position to bring together parties — ethanol producers, petroleum refiners, automakers, and corn growers — that have typically held divergent views. The Andersons joining Growth Energy and being represented on the board is a critical step in bringing some of the best forward-looking minds together to move our industry forward.”

Bringing those diverse groups together, Pirolli believes, will be one of the keys to writing the next chapter of the ethanol story. “We have a great product with an excellent story behind it,” he said. “Some barriers have been removed, and it’s time to take the next step to move the message of our clean, low-carbon, low-cost fuel forward.”

Element, LLC